Behind Enemy Lines
by MusicalGirl97
Summary: Takes place after 1x11. General Sebastian Monroe has a problem, one that's been haunting him ever since his best friend's betrayal. What would happen to the Republic if he were to die? Charlie Matheson wants revenge for her brother's death, but when she is captured by the very man she wants to kill, what will she do to survive?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Judging by all the promos for the rest of the season, I can tell that my story is going to become AU, so far the sake of this fanfic let's just say that Randall never went to Monroe about the power, ok?

Sebastian Monroe sat behind his desk in solitude. Leaning back, he twirled a handgun around on his desk, trying to occupy his fingers while his eyes scanned the room. From his seat at the center of the office, he could see every nook and cranny, every ornament on the wall. He was the only person with a desk in this room. He was the only one with the power here. It didn't used to be that way, though. Not too long ago, there were two occupants of this office, one desk in each corner. Bass was never alone then. Not when he had Miles, who was always so good at finding a way to break the silence in the room.

Bass hated silence. Silence meant there was no conversation, and no conversation made it far too easy to think. He spent too much time thinking now, about the way things used to be and how much he wished he could go back. For years he and Miles had worked together, sharing this office, sharing control of the Republic. They had worked constantly to better their nation and create order in the middle of the chaos. And yet, even in such serious times, everything seemed sure to work out, because they had each other. Both Bass and Miles and agreed to never abandon the other, they could count on each other. But then Miles betrayed that trust.

And now here he was, sitting alone at his desk, contemplating that terrible day just like he had done for the past four years. He hated it, but in his heart he knew he would never stop. He would continue to do this until the day he died. Bass let out a low chuckle and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Silently, he cursed his shaky hands. Thinking about his eventual death made him nervous now, though he could never admit it to anyone. He barely admitted it to himself.

Before things changed, Bass had always felt a sense of peace when thinking of his eventual death. It never truly bothered him, and he supposed it was because his priorities were different than most others. The majority of people would do nearly anything to stay living, but that wasn't enough for Bass. For him, it was more important to be remembered, to leave a legacy that none would forget. The Republic was that legacy, and he had always been certain that if he were to die, Miles would keep it alive.

But that wouldn't happen now, would it? With Miles gone, what would happen to the Monroe Republic if he were to die? He supposed that his second in command would take over the job, but he also knew that if that happened, it wouldn't be the Monroe Republic anymore. The name would change to fit it's new general, and no one would care about Sebastian Monroe anymore.

It frightened him to think about it, a world in which the Monroe Republic no longer existed. Everything he worked for would have amounted to nothing in the eyes of history. In a hundred years, none would know his name. All the lives lost, all the sacrifices made. All for nothing.

But Bass couldn't let that happen. He would not allow all of his efforts to be in vain, just because Miles Matheson had betrayed his trust. There had to be some way to ensure that his name continued, to keep the Monroe Republic, and Bass would be damned if he couldn't find it.

Charlie Matheson stood over her brother's grave in silence, just as she had been doing every morning for the past two weeks. By now she had spent so many hours staring at that cross, she had every detail engrained in her memory. The crack in the wood close to the top, the small hole on the left side, every detail. And yet she still stared, because she wanted to make sure she never forgot the symbol of what Monroe had taken from her. Had there not been a blackout, she was sure that people would have tried to comfort her. They would have told her that everything would be okay, and that things would get easier with time. They would have told her to move on.

But no one says that now. In fact, they say the opposite, that Monroe needs to pay for what he's done, and they have to fight him like Danny did. That's why Charlie's working with the rebels now. Not because she wants to make the world a better place, or because she knows it's the right thing to do. No, she's not nearly as noble as most of the people fighting with the rebels. She's doing it for revenge, pure cold-blooded vengeance. It may not be the most righteous motivation, but she couldn't change the way she felt. She was angry over Danny's death, and she wanted Monroe to die for it. Simple as that.

Charlie turned and began the walk back to the rebel base. Today was a big day, her first official strike against the Republic. Miles was leading a team in to a militia armory in Norristown, right outside Philadelphia. It wasn't the most important hit they could make, but it was a start, and a good way to test their timed explosives. Now that they had a small amount of power, the rebels were in good shape, but it would take time before they were fully equipped to take down the Republic. They needed tanks and missiles, but right now all they had were bazookas and radios.

Not that she was complaining. The advantages they had were sure to be very helpful, and today would just prove that. When she arrived back at the camp, she found everyone gearing up to go, except for Aaron and her mother of course. Her mother, who she thought was dead, who abandoned her for who knows what reason. The only thing keeping Charlie from demanding explanations was the fact that she was mourning Danny, too, and that was hard enough to deal with.

"Charlie, you ready to go?" Miles asked, handing her a rifle. She nodded and hopped on to the cart, taking a seat beside her uncle. The horses moved forward, and they spent most of the journey in silence. It wasn't until they were almost there that Miles turned to her and asked her what she was thinking about.

"Danny, mostly," she said, then added more softly, "I miss him."

"Yeah," he answered, and looked away. Just when Charlie was beginning to think the conversation was over, he spoke up again. "Listen, Charlie. I didn't really know your brother that well, but he was family, so… I miss him too. He was a good kid."

Charlie shook her head. "But that's just it. He was just a kid, and I was supposed to take care of him. I never should have let him fight against Monroe."

"And I probably shouldn't let you fight either, but we both know I wouldn't be able to stop you, just like you couldn't stop Danny. It wasn't your fault, Charlie. It was Monroe's."

He was right, of course. That was why Charlie was on this mission in the first place, because she blamed Monroe for Danny's death. But that couldn't stop her from feeling partly responsible. Nothing could.

The strike they were planning was fairly simple. Create a distraction at the south wall, a small team would sneak in the north to plant the bomb and get out of there, then everyone would pull out and they would blow the building from a safe distance. Of course both Charlie and Miles were a part of the team planting the bomb, along with Nora and a couple other rebel soldiers. As soon as they heard bullets being fired, the group snuck over to the wall and opened a window, sneaking in to an empty room. Miles glanced out the door and noticed two guards at the end of the hallway, but the noise at the front soon pulled them from their posts.

They started down the hall, and Charlie started counting the doors on their left. Three, four, five… "We're here." She turned the knob and stepped inside the stairwell, holding up her crossbow and swiftly taking out the sole guard. "Seriously? Only one?" she asked.

"I guess our friends are making quite the distraction," Miles noted. "Come on, we need to hurry it up. Nora?"

"I'm on it." She began setting up the bomb on the steps, and Charlie glanced around. They had chosen this stairwell as the target because it sat right in the middle of most of the militia's weapon storage, and it was critical to the building's infrastructure. With any luck, their little explosion would cause the entire compound to implode. Nora had just finished arranging the C-4 when the room exploded with bullets.

Miles pulled Charlie beneath the stairs, and Nora dived behind a storage crate. Their rebel friends weren't so quick-thinking, however, and they went down within a few seconds. "Where the hell did they come from, Miles?" Nora shouted. "You were supposed to be on look-out!"

"I'm sorry, I was distracted!"

"Distracted! Seriously?"

"Hey!" Charlie interrupted, "Now is not the time for this! Nora, did you set up the detonator on that bomb?"

"Yeah."

"Great, then let's get out of here!"

"I'm on it," Miles said, and pulled out his gun. He glanced out at the doorway before jumping out and shooting the guards down with one bullet each. "Come on!" He rushed out the door, followed by Nora. Charlie quickly stood up to follow him, but a sharp pain in her leg forced her back down. She reached down and felt a tear in her pants leg, and her fingers were bloody when she brought them back up.

Charlie bit her tongue and forced herself to stand up, despite the pain telling her to do otherwise. She had to run, she had to get out of there. Hurrying down the hallway, she tried to keep up with Miles and Nora, but the injury was causing her to limp. She just couldn't keep up. As they rounded a corner ahead of her, Charlie tried to cry out for their help, but strong arms grabbed her from behind and placed a cloth over her mouth and nose. She panicked, tried to force herself free, but it was no use. The world was fading in to darkness around her, and Charlie quickly found herself drifting to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Wow, I'm so overwhelmed by all the interest in this little fic of mine! Thank you all so much! Also, I should probably include a trigger warning here for the rest of the story. There will be mentions of rape, but nothing explicit, I swear.

Miles Matheson ran through the woods as fast as his feet could take him. They needed to get away from that building, and they needed to do it fast. As soon as he saw the other rebels, he yelled for them to turn on the amplifier Rachel had managed to construct for them. Granted it wasn't as powerful, nor did it have the range as her first, but it was enough to send a radio signal to a detonator inside the armory. As they charged it up, he glanced back and saw Nora racing up behind him.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked.

"She's right behind me," she answered, but when she turned around no one was there. Miles glanced in all directions, but Charlie was nowhere to be seen. "Well where is she?" he asked, staring to panic, and he looked back at the armory in horror. No. She was right behind them, how could she not have followed him out? What happened? He thought back to their escape, tried to remember when he lost sight of his niece. It had to be after they left the stairway, when they were running toward the exit. How could she have fallen behind?

But that wasn't important at the moment. Right now, they needed to find Charlie and get her out of that armory before it blew to smithereens. "Don't trigger the bomb yet!" He yelled to the rebels. "Charlie's still inside!" He started to run towards the building again, but Nora grabbed his arm. "What are you doing, Miles? You're gonna get yourself killed waltzing in there without a plan!"

"But Charlie is-"

"I know, she's in trouble and she needs our help, but getting yourself killed won't solve anything. Just look, Miles." She pointed towards the compound. Now that he was really looking carefully, he could see the troops moving around the walls, securing all the exits. Obviously they knew there had been a breach, and the militia didn't take these things lightly. The entire armory was going on lockdown. Miles sighed and hung his head in defeat. There was no way he would be able to get in there now. He wouldn't be able to rescue Charlie.

Growing angry, Miles threw his fist against the nearest tree as hard as he could. Blood stained the bark as he pulled away, but he didn't care. "Hey, calm down," Nora said, and she reached up to touch his shoulder, but he roughly shrugged her off.

"Calm down. Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down, Nora? General Monroe has my niece captive! We spent so many weeks trying to get to Danny, and then we had him back for one day, one freaking day, and he died. And now? Now Monroe has Charlie. What the hell am I supposed to tell Rachel? What am I supposed to tell myself!"

Miles collapsed on the forest floor and put his face in to his hands, trying to think everything through. "I never should have let her come with us," he mumbled to himself, "I should have kept a closer eye on her. What was I thinking? I'm such an idiot, she's just a kid." His body started to shake, and Miles cursed himself for being so weak. Just a few months ago, he never would have been affected like this. But then he let that girl get in to his head, he started to care about her and things could never be the same after that.

Charlie had changed him, that much was evident. She had taken his messed up self and transformed him in to a good person, the kind of person he never thought he could be again after all he'd done. They looked out for each other, and now he'd failed her. But Miles couldn't live with himself if he just sat by and did nothing. He was going to do whatever was necessary to get Charlie back, even if it meant killing Sebastian Monroe himself.

Major Tom Neville looked back at the girl lying in the wagon. He'd been very lucky to spot her struggling to keep up with her friends, and thankfully he'd thought she would be more useful as a captive than a dead woman. After all, General Monroe has said that he wanted Miles Matheson killed. What better way to flush him out than to capture his only niece? He hoped that Monroe would be pleased when he delivered the girl. After his encounter with Matheson, the general had seemed for more on edge than usual. He didn't trust anyone, not even his high-ranking officials. Not even Major Neville.

Tom had never been anything other than loyal to Monroe, and he hoped that bringing him the Matheson girl would prove that to him. True, he had lied about the death of Jason, but that couldn't harm anyone. He was only doing what any good father would do. It wasn't as if his son posed any real threat to the Republic, especially with this girl out of the way. He glanced down at her sleeping figure again, trying to understand what Jason saw in her. She was pretty, he supposed, but not particularly striking. Nothing like some of the girls in Philadelphia who had tried to make a move on his son. So what was so special about her? He supposed he would never know, not now that he'd sent Jason away. It would be difficult not to see him again, but Tom knew it was necessary for his son's safety.

When they arrived at Philadelphia, he had the Matheson girl sent put in a high-security cell beneath the capital building. She would sure be in for a surprise when the drugs wore off and she woke up, Tom thought with a chuckle. Then he walked up the stairs to give his report to the General and tell him the news. He glanced at his uniform and straightened his jacket before opening the door. It could never hurt to ensure he made a good impression with his outward appearance.

"Ah, Tom. How did they inspection go?" General Monroe was sitting behind his desk, staring at the window with a distant look on his face.

"Very well, sir. Everything seems to be in order."

"Excellent. Then the matter is closed," he said, clearly dismissing the major. But Tom wasn't quite done.

"Actually, sir, there was something I wanted to discuss with you. There's been a development in the Matheson case."

Monroe's head finally turned to his officer at the mention of that name. He had a strange look in his eyes. Curiosity? Anxiety? He couldn't tell exactly. "Did you find Miles? Did you kill him?"

"Well… no, sir. We didn't find Miles, but we did manage to capture his niece. She's in a holding cell in the basement."

The general smiled a bit. "Charlie Matheson. This is good work, Tom. I appreciate your loyalty."

"Of course, sir," Tom answered, pleased that he had received Monroe's approval. Julia would certainly be happy to hear about this exchange.

"Oh, and Tom?" He turned to face his general once again. "Have Charlie brought to me as soon as she is able. I have some things I'd like to discuss with her."

The first thing Charlie Matheson became aware of was a splitting headache. Then as she grew more conscious, she noticed the feeling of cold metal against her skin, restrictions around her wrists, and the smell of blood. Carefully, she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was lying on a metal table in the middle of a tiny concrete room. There were no windows, just a locked door with some bars over the tiny opening. She was in a cell. She was a prisoner of the militia. "No," she muttered and tried to sit up. This could not be happening, not when she'd just begun fighting these people.

Her head was killing her, but she managed to stand up. As soon as she placed weight on her right leg though, she cried out in pain, immediately sitting back down. She reached down and took a look at her injury. Clearly it was a bullet wound, and she now remembered exactly how that had occurred. They'd been trying to blow up that armory, and the militia had ambushed them in the stairwell. Charlie sighed and inspected the bandage around her leg. Obviously someone had cleaned the wound while she was asleep, and the idea of someone touching her while she was unconscious made her uncomfortable.

Speaking of which, where was she exactly? She'd been briefed on the schematics of the armory by Miles and she didn't remember a prison, so she'd been moved. Bracing herself, Charlie carefully stood up again. It hurt, but now that she was prepared it was a bit more bearable. She limped over to the door and looked out the opening. She was on a hallway with lots of doors similar to hers, but most of them were open. Empty cells were not a good sign.

She jumped back as the door opened before her. When she saw who had opened it, she grew twice as angry. "Captain Neville," she said coldly. He gave her a smile, which she knew was entirely false, just like everything else about that man. "Actually, it's Major Neville now." So Monroe had promoted him. Of course. That is the reward for killing innocent people like Danny and her father after all.

Forcefully, he grabbed her arm and pulled her out in to the hall. "The general has asked to see you personally. I suggest you try not to be too disrespectful."

"Really? Since when did he deserve my respect?"

"Since he had you in his prison and could order your execution at any moment." All right, so maybe he had a bit of a point. Charlie didn't want to be executed, but not because she was afraid to die. She just didn't want to die before she could truly avenge her brother. Before she could kill Monroe. After that, she didn't care. Honestly, she would probably welcome death once this was all done. She would get to be with Danny again.

Charlie glanced around at the building as she was being dragged through it. She tried to look for windows, doors leading to the outside, anything that she could use as an escape route. Nothing. There were guards posted in every hallway, bars over every window. This place was a freaking fortress. When Neville brought her before Monroe's office, she felt her heart skip a beat, and her stomach jumped. Here she was, about to come face to face with the man responsible for Danny's death. What was she supposed to do?

The doors opened and Major Neville pushed her inside, closing them tightly behind her. Charlie took a tentative step forward. There he stood, her mortal enemy. He was looking out the window, his back to the rest of the room. From this angle he didn't seem so intimidating. He was just a man. A bit taller than her and a lot stronger, but still just a man, and men could be killed. Then he turned, and looked at her with those steely blue eyes. Now he seemed immortal, angry, powerful. He seemed very dangerous, and she was beginning to be frightened.

"Charlie. So good to see you once again, and so soon." She refused to answer. She would not demean herself by talking with this snake. Monroe noticed this and smiled. "It's all right, no need to speak. I don't need to hear anything you would want to tell me anyway." He crossed over to his desk and poured himself a drink, not his first Charlie suspected.

"I must say I wasn't sure what to do with you when Tom told me that he had you in custody. I thought about executing you, but… that simply wouldn't do any good. You see, you're much more useful to me alive. Especially now that you and you're little family joined with the rebels."

Charlie shook her head. "I won't tell you anything about them, nothing!"

"Ah, so you decided to speak." Monroe smiled, making chills run down her spine. What was going on in that head of his? "No, Charlie, I know you won't tell me anything about the rebels. I could torture you, but I know you wouldn't talk. Nothing I did worked on your mother when I held her captive, and I think we both know that you're much stronger than she ever was. You wouldn't abandon your family like she did."

Charlie clenched her fists and Monroe smirked. How dare he say such things about her mother? They may be true, but he had no right. Not him, when he's done so many awful things. Her mother is a saint compared to him. Monroe continued, "Besides, I wouldn't need anything you could tell me in order to bring down the rebels. I'm capable of doing that all on my own."

"Not anymore. You don't have power now that Danny destroyed your amplifier."

"So he's the one that blew up my choppers." Miles turned his back, facing the window once again, and Charlie spotted a knife on his desk. He wasn't looking, she could stab him right now. Carefully she leaned over and grabbed the blade. "And how is your dear brother, Danny? Doing well I suppose?"

"No. He's dead. You killed him." Charlie moved to stab him, but Monroe was too fast. In one quick move he grabbed her wrists and forced the knife from her hand. She bit her lip as she felt him press the cold metal against her back.

"Did you really think it would be that easy to kill me?" he whispered menacingly in to her ear. "Please. You're not capable of bringing me down, and even if you did, my men are waiting right outside. They'd kill you before you could celebrate your victory." Charlie tried to move away from him, but he only tightened his hold.

"You want to know how I'm gonna defeat the rebels, you want to know how I'm going to kill them all? I'll use you as bait. They're going to come for you, you know they will, and when they do I'll be waiting. I'll kill every single one of them. I'll kill your mother, I'll kill the fat guy, and the hot chick, and best of all I'll kill Miles. I'm going to murder him for everything that he's done to me and this Republic, and there won't be a thing you can do to stop it."

"And then you'll kill me?" she asked nervously. Monroe laughed, and Charlie felt a chill run down her spine. Whatever he was about to say was clearly not good.

"Oh no, I won't kill you, not yet. See, you're still a Matheson, and that makes you important. Miles may have betrayed me, but he was still an integral part of the founding of this Republic. The Monroe-Matheson Republic. Yes, that's what it used to be called before your uncle left me, and I just can't ignore that going in to the future."

Charlie squinted her eyes. "The future? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the next general of the republic. I don't want the Monroe Republic to become someone else's once I'm dead. I want it to go to my flesh and blood, to my son. And you see, Charlie, I want my son to have some of that Matheson blood running through his veins, too. That way the Republic can become what it was always meant to be, a nation ruled by the combined power of the Monroe's and the Matheson's." Then he released her and pushed her away.

"Guards!" he called, and two men entered the room. Charlie looked back at Monroe in fear of what he was going to do. He turned to his soldiers. "Take her to my room."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I hope you all like this chapter! I have a basic idea of what I want to happen in this story, but there's a lot of room for flexibility so if any of you have ideas of things you'd like to see I'm open to suggestions. I'll try my best to work stuff in. :)

Charlie stepped in to the bathtub and submerged herself in the warm water. There was something about a bath that she had always found soothing, but this time nothing could relax her. Her mind kept replaying the events of last night. No matter how hard she tried not to think about it, she couldn't help it. Every inch of her felt dirty, so she started to wash herself. As she did she scrubbed harder and harder, trying to forget the feel of his hot breath against her skin, the expression in his eyes when he looked at her.

One bath was not enough to cleanse herself of his filth. She called for another, then another before finally accepting the fact that no matter what she did she would never be able to forget what had happened. It was going to haunt her forever. Charlie shivered in her robe. She felt exposed, vulnerable. She wanted her clothes back but they had taken them away, to wash them they claimed, but she doubted if she would ever see them again. The door opened and Charlie jumped. Surely Monroe couldn't be back already?

But it wasn't him at all. Instead, she saw a tall blond woman entering the room with a stack of clothes. "I thought you might be needing these, seeing as you're going to be staying here a while," she said with a slight smile, placing the stack on the bed. Then she turned to Charlie and held out her hand, which she made no move to shake. "I'm Julia. Julia Neville." Charlie's eyebrows shot up.

"Neville. You're Jason's mother?"

"You knew my son?" She asked curiously. To some it may have just seemed like a passing comment, small talk, but Charlie noticed a strange look in her eyes. Something had happened to Jason, that was for sure.

"Yeah, I know him. Is he all right?" she asked, and Julia lowered her head. A sad expression came over her face as she answered, still not meeting her eyes.

"He's dead." For a moment, Charlie couldn't breathe. Dead? How was that possible? She had seen him just a few days ago, hunting in the woods. He'd told her about how his father had disowned him and told him never to come home. She had believed him completely, but for some reason still couldn't let him join with the rebels. Whether it was because of his last name or the times he's betrayed her, she wasn't sure, but she highly doubted that Miles would have let him join the fight against the militia. So what happened?

"How… how did he die? And when?"

"It was about two weeks ago. He and my husband were smoking out some rebel soldiers when a firefight broke out. Tom told me he was one of the first ones down." So Neville had told everyone Jason was dead. She wondered why he may have done that. To save his own loyalty from being questioned? Or was it to keep Jason safe? Maybe that man did have a sliver of humanity in him, however small it may be. But that wouldn't stop Charlie from hating him, of course. After all, he was still responsible for the death of her father.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she answered, and walked over to the bed. Glancing through the clothes Julia had brought her, she quickly picked out some pants and started to put them on under her robe. She sighed as she felt the fabric close around her. It felt good to have some layer of protection, no matter how simple. Julia began to tell her about all the perks that came with living in Philadelphia.

"You already know that any amount of hot water can be acquired for baths, and there's an exquisite choice in clothing. I know what I brought you isn't much, but don't worry. I'll have you brought some more things so you can have more options when getting dressed. Then of course there's the food, which will be served in the dining area. The guards outside your door will escort you there for each meal so you don't get lost. It is a rather large building of course. And if there's anything else you need, I'm sure the servants will do everything in their power to make you happy."

"Happy? You're kidding, right? I'm a prisoner here. What could I possibly have to be happy about?"

"Most girls in this city would feel honored to be favored by the General. Believe me, it's a great privilege that many would want to steal from you. Why can't you see how lucky you are? Everyone else does. They envy you."

"Everyone else isn't being forced to become a baby-making machine for the man who murdered their father and brother and kept their mother as a prisoner for nearly a decade."

Julia narrowed her eyes. "Talking like that will earn you no favors. I suggest you at least try to cooperate with Monroe. He is the most powerful man in the country after all." And with that she stalked out of the room, leaving Charlie to her thoughts. She glanced around the room. Even though she had only been here a matter of hours, she didn't think she would be able to stand another day here, and she definitely couldn't stand another night. It was obvious what Charlie had to do. She had to find a way to escape.

"They're back!" Rachel Matheson looked up and saw a group of people walking toward the base. She smiled when she saw Nora at the front, that meant the strike team had made it out all right. Quickly, she ran to the gate and started searching faces for any sight of Miles or her daughter. When she didn't immediately see them she started to get worried. Why weren't they here? Then she saw Miles shuffling along in the back and walked over to him.

"Miles," she called, and he looked up at her with tearful eyes. Rachel stopped in her tracks. Miles never cried, not once. "Miles, where's Charlie?" When he didn't immediately answer, she knew something horrible had happened. Tears started to fall down her cheeks and she leaned back against the wall, unable to support her own weight. How could she have ever let Charlie go on that mission? She was her baby girl, she was supposed to protect her not put her in danger! All of this was her fault. Rachel felt his arms wrap around her, so she leaned in to his shoulder. "What happened to her?" she asked, her voice breaking with tears.

"She fell behind. The militia took her." She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. The thought of her little girl in the hands of those men made her weak, and she slid to the floor. She knew first-hand how cruel the militia could be to an ordinary prisoner, much less one of the Matheson's. Rachel was positive that Monroe would find some way to use her to his advantage, she just wasn't sure how. "We've got to find her," she said, "We've got to get her back."

"I know," Miles answered, squatting down to her eye level. "And we will, I promise. But we have no idea where she's being held or how to get there."

"She's got to be in Philadelphia, right? That's where Monroe would have wanted her, it's the most secure place."

Miles nodded. "Probably, but we don't know for sure. And if she is in Philly we'll have one hell of a job getting inside."

"You didn't seem to have a problem with that when you came looking for… my son. Didn't you just walk in through the tunnels?"

"Yeah, but Monroe's closed them all off now, so we'd have to sneak our way in through the checkpoints. Not an easy thing to do since pretty much all the militia soldiers would recognize us."

"Well we have to do something!"

" I know!" Miles sighed, and lowered his voice again. "I know. Now I've still got a few contacts in the militia. I'll talk to them and see if they can find out where Monroe's keeping Charlie." Rachel let out a shaky breath and looked down at the floor. At that rate it would take Miles days to find out where her daughter was, and who knows what could happen to her in that time? She felt him stand up beside her and noticed his hand in her peripheral vision. He was reaching out to help her up.

Reluctantly, Rachel took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. She knew that she needed to be strong for Charlie's sake, so she took a deep breath and lifted her head. Miles gave her a reassuring smile, but he couldn't mask the fact that he was worried, too. Nora came over to them from the commander's office. "Bad news. I just talked with the commander about putting together a rescue, but he thinks it's too risky. He doesn't want to put everyone's lives in danger for just one person."

Rachel felt her heart sink, but was determined not to give up. "It's okay. We'll just have get her ourselves. We can do that, right Miles?" She looked hopefully to her brother-in-law, but he didn't seem to share her optimism.

"Maybe if she's being held in minimum security, but… well we all know Bass. He'll have her locked up somewhere impenetrable. Without help, it could be impossible."

"Then we'll just have to find help on the way." Rachel said assertively, and she turned to head back inside the base.

"Where are you going?" Nora asked.

"To pack my things. We're leaving this afternoon to find out where Charlie is, and then we're going to get her out of there. You're both coming, right?"

"Of course we are."

"Good, then let's get on it. Charlie can't afford for us to be wasting time."

General Monroe had been unable to concentrate on his work all day long. He just couldn't stop thinking about Charlie, wondering how she liked her new room and worrying that she was even more angry with him than before. It hadn't been an easy decision, figuring out when to start trying for a child. He had wondered if he should wait until she got more comfortable and warmed up to him, but he also knew that might take quite a while and he wanted a son by next summer. Still, nine months should provide him with plenty of time to make sure Charlie came to terms with their arrangement.

He felt confident that she would come around eventually. After all, being the mother of his child certainly came with many perks. Soon she would realize that and accept her position for what it was, an honor. There were, of course, a few things he would have to take care of. No doubt she was still thinking of Miles and the rest of the rebels, probably wanting to rejoin them in their quest for his head. Bass would have to get rid of them so she had no one to go back to. After that, the arrival of their son would be the finishing touch. Charlie would have no reason to leave then.

It was getting to be dark outside, and since he knew he wouldn't get any work done anyway, Bass cleared his desk and left the office. The guards saluted him as he walked down the halls towards Charlie's quarters. He nodded to them and continued on his way. Respect was only one of the many things he enjoyed about being general, and he'd be lying if he said sharing with Miles was better. When Miles was here, he had been the favorite with the men. Bass hadn't minded of course, but now that his friend was gone he was certainly enjoying the benefits of being the sole leader of the Republic. The people looked to him and no one else. It was… gratifying.

Finally he was there, Charlie's room. Bass glanced down at his uniform before opening the doors. It certainly couldn't hurt his case to look his best, make a decent impression for her. He took a deep breathe to soothe his nerves. He needed to appear confident, in control, but when he entered the room all of his effort went to waste and he began to panic.

Charlie was missing.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie glanced around her room, looking for a way to escape. The doors were impossible, the windows were locked. Her eyes rested on the heating vent and she smiled. The screws were tight, but with a little bit of effort the grate came off, and she ducked inside. Carefully, she inched her way down the shaft. She didn't want to make any noise at all, because if she did she was sure it would resonate through the entire building. So she moved slowly, closing the grate behind her so no one could see where she went.

She tried to think about what she had seen of the building, and was suddenly wishing she'd made a map. Though she wasn't sure, it seemed like the closest way out would be to her right, so Charlie started crawling that way. Then she made one turn, and another, and it wasn't too long before she was totally lost. She cursed herself for being so stupid. How could she have made such a big mistake? If she wasn't careful, she could lose the only opportunity she might ever have to escape.

Sitting back, Charlie glanced over at an opening in the vent. She needed to figure out exactly where she was, so she leaned over and peered through the metal slits. She was over a large room, with double doors at the end being guarded by a few soldiers. Judging by the view from the large windows on her left, she assumed she was somewhere on the north side of the building, but she couldn't be positive.

Suddenly she heard voices, so she scooted back a bit. Below her, Major Neville and one of his soldiers were walking across the room towards the doors. Charlie wished she could hear exactly what it was they were saying, but all she could pick up was the occasional word. Prison, soldiers, ambush, it could mean anything in the world and she wasn't going to worry herself too much trying to figure it out. There were much more important matters at hand.

Charlie turned and kept on crawling. Clearly, she wouldn't be able to get out in this room. What she needed was to find a room with a door to the outside, an empty room. When she stumbled upon the kitchen, she smiled. This was the perfect place to make her escape. It had a door for delivering food, and since dinner had been over for some time, no one would be in here until tomorrow morning. Quickly, she began working on the screws holding the vent in place.

These were tighter than the ones in her bedroom, and before long Charlie's fingers were red and sore. Still, she kept going, she had to do whatever it took the get out of there. Half an hour later, the grate was off. "Thank God," she whispered as she carefully crawled out and lowered herself to the floor, trying not to make a sound. As soon as her feet hit the ground, a loud bell rang out through the halls, and Charlie heard the sound of rushing feet. Damn it, they must have realized she was missing!

Someone down the hallway ordered their men to search the kitchen, and she panicked. She looked desperately for somewhere to hide, before finally settling on the cabinets. Opening the doors she stepped inside and rearranged the stacks of cloth napkins so that they mostly covered her before tucking her feet behind some old pipes. Though she couldn't see, Charlie heard the doors to the kitchen open, and two pairs of footsteps enter the room. She held her breath and didn't dare to move, terrified that they might hear her.

As the steps grew closer to her hiding spot, she felt her heart beating faster. "Please don't find me, please don't find me," she thought to herself. Then one soldier stopped right before the cabinet door. "I don't see anything," she heard him say. The other walked over and opened the pantry. "Check the cabinets."

The man sighed and opened the doors next to Charlie, quickly shutting them again. Then he opened the cabinets where she was and glanced in. For a brief moment she was stricken with fear, that he would find her and take her back to Monroe, that he would lock her in her room for the rest of her life. But then he shut the doors and continued on his way, and she slowly let out a deep breath. She was safe, she was okay.

Charlie stayed hidden for a good twenty minutes after they left, just wanting to be sure the room was all clear. Then she shakily opened the doors and stepped out. Glancing around, she walked over to the wall and took some keys from the hook. Still she didn't see anyone, so she unlocked the door and slipped out in to the cool night air.

Sebastian Monroe called for the guards as soon as he saw the empty room. When they ran inside, he turned to them in a fury. "Where the hell is she?" he yelled, "How could you have let her escape!" He took one of his men and threw him against the wall. "Well, tell me what happened!" The boy glanced at the other guard in terror before turning back to the general. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know how she escaped, we never heard a noise or opened the doors or anything."

Bass let out an exasperated breath and let him go. Of course she hadn't made any noise, and she couldn't have just walked out. The windows maybe, but one glanced at them told him they were still locked tight. The only other way out of this room was- no. She couldn't have, could she? He turned and looked at the vent over her dresser. The grate was still in place, but he noticed the screws were gone.

Then he turned angrily to his soldiers. "Put the city on lock down. No one leaves Philadelphia, no one leaves their street without going through a check-point! She can't have gone too far from here by now. I want Charlie Matheson found and brought back to me within the hour, are we clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers ran off to complete their orders, and Bass sat down on the edge of the bed. Had he made a mistake, moving her from her prison and trying for a child all in the same day? Had he done too much too soon after her arrival? He had hoped that giving her this comfortable room would make her stay a bit more bearable, and perhaps it still would. When she was recovered and brought back he would have to ensure she was more secure, at least until she earned the right to be more trustworthy.

The sound of bells rang through the halls and Bass knew the men had done their job. The city was going on lock-down now. There was no way Charlie could escape that. "Sir?" He looked up and saw his most trusted major standing in the door.

"Ah, Tom. Come in."

"I wanted to ask your permission to lead a squadron through the streets, do a house to house search for the Matheson girl."

"She has a name, Tom."

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry, sir. Charlie, I'd like to lead a search for Charlie."

Bass nodded. "Very well. I appreciate you taking the initiative on this matter. Your kind of loyalty is… rare."

"Thank you, sir." Tom bowed his head and left the room, leaving Bass alone once again. He had no doubt that Major Neville would find Charlie, and then she would realize just how futile it was to resist him. All that was left for him to do was wait.

Tom Neville rode through the streets of Philadelphia on his horse. His men walked beside him, checking every home, business, and alleyway as they went. He knew how important the Matheson girl, Charlie, was to his general, so he was determined to recover her for him. He wondered what Jason would say if he saw him now, tracking down the girl he had feelings for to bring her back to Monroe. He would probably yell at him, tell him that it was wrong. No one should have to go through what Monroe was doing, especially not her.

Tom laughed to himself. Of course Jason would try to talk him out of it. He didn't even need to be here in order to make him feel a bit guilty about bringing in the girl. That was his son, all right. He wondered what Jason was doing now. How was he surviving? Was he living off the land or had he found a new home already? He supposed he would never know, but he also knew that he would be speculating for the rest of his life.

As they began their sweep of South Street, he brought his attention back to the search. Now was not the time to be reminiscing about his son, now he needed to focus on the task at hand. He needed to recover Charlie Matheson. He tried to put himself in the girl's shoes to figure out where she would go. He knew she had limited knowledge of the city, and most of what she did know was outdated. Still, his best guess was that she had no idea they had blocked off the tunnels she had entered through last time. Most likely, that was where she was headed.

"I want two men with me. The rest of you continue the search." Tom turned his horse around and spurred him on to the old tunnels. Just when they were about to reach the entrance, he slowed down and demounted his steed. Peering around the corner, he saw a slight figure moving through the shadows. When they reached the entrance to the tunnels he saw a flash of blond hair and smiled. They had her.

He turned and signaled to his men, and they began to approach her from three different directions. Tom walked confidently across the street. He watched as Charlie realized the tunnels were hopeless, and then she turned around. As soon as she saw him she started to run, but it was no use. One of Neville's soldiers stepped out from the shadows and grabbed her.

Seeing that Charlie was captured again, Tom slowed down and approached her casually. "Ah, there you are." She stopped struggling and looked up at him with those hateful eyes. It almost unnerved him, though he would never show it or admit it to anyone. "Did you honestly think you could make it out of Philly alive?" he asked, then turned to his soldiers. "Take her back to Monroe."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N I know what you're thinking. Another update? But she just posted a new chapter! Yeah, well, I wouldn't get used to it. Normally I don't write things this fast but my muse wouldn't leave me alone so... Here you go. Please review! I'd love to know how you're all liking it so far!

Sunlight streamed through the window and landed on Charlie's face. Under normal circumstances this would have woken her up, but these weren't normal circumstances, and her eyes were already wide open. In fact, she hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before. Monroe had… kept her busy for a while, and after that she couldn't rest. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the concrete over the tunnel, Major Neville's face when he recaptured her. She'd been so close to escaping, but in the end it hadn't mattered. They had found her.

Charlie stood up and changed in to some clothes more suited for the day. Pants, a tank top, boots. She still dressed like she was on the road, even though Mrs. Neville had offered her plenty of dresses to choose from. She just felt more like herself dressing this way, and she wanted to hold on to every bit of normalcy that she could. Sighing, she walked over to the windows. There were bars placed over them now, and her vent had been sealed. The only way in and out of this room now was through the door, which was being guarded night and day.

She peered through the bars and gazed longingly at the outside world. Monroe was insane to think that she would ever be content living here, bearing his children. She still wanted his head for what he did to Danny, but he made that nearly impossible. The only time she got near him was when he called for her, and even then she was searched before the guards took her to him. She wouldn't be able to kill him if she tried.

And she couldn't escape either, last night had proven that. Charlie rested her head against the window. She should have known better than to attempt an escape so soon. What did she know about the city? Nothing, absolutely nothing. She should have waited, gathered intelligence and earned Monroe's trust. But now all her chances of that were blown, because she let her emotions get in the way. She was angry at Monroe for what he had put her through, and she was scared that he would do it again, so she ran. She acted without thinking and look what it had cost her.

Escaping this building would be impossible now, much less getting out of Philadelphia. And even if she managed that, where would she go? No doubt the rebels had moved their location by now, they were always moving. She couldn't hide in the woods forever, and she definitely couldn't find some town to live in. Monroe would send the militia everywhere looking for her and she couldn't put anyone else in danger. So, she was trapped in this living hell, unable to break out.

At least, unable to break out on her own. As she looked out over the streets, Charlie still held out some hope that she would recognize someone's face. Miles, Nora, Aaron, her mother. No doubt they were all searching for her right now, and she knew they wouldn't stop until she was free. So, she took a deep breath. She had to stay strong, not give in to Monroe. After all, her family was coming for her. They wouldn't leave her, not after all they had been through. All that was left for her to do was wait.

Ten days. They had been trying to find out where Charlie was for ten days, and still they were no closer to finding her baby girl. Rachel shuddered to think of all the horrors that could have befallen her daughter in the time they've been looking, and suddenly she was more relieved than ever before that she had killed Strausser. If he was still alive, God only knew what Charlie would be enduring this minute.

Then again, who knew what she was experiencing now even with Strausser dead. By no means was he Monroe's only officer skilled in torture and interrogation. Her daughter could be bleeding out in a jail cell even now as she was strolling through a forest. It made her feel sick to her stomach to think about such things, but she couldn't help it. She barely even slept anymore, because every time she closed her eyes she saw another way Charlie could be suffering.

It made her even more sick to know there was nothing she could do about it. All of their efforts had been fruitless, as none of Miles's contacts were able to tell him anything. It seemed that Monroe was keeping any knowledge of Charlie a secret from the majority of the militia, and that worried her more than anything. What was he doing with her daughter, and why didn't anyone know about it? Was she even still alive?

Rachel shook her head and started walking faster. She could speculate about all the things her baby girl was experiencing right now, but thoughts like that? That was where she drew the line. Charlie was not dead. She couldn't be dead. "Miles?" she called, and he turned around. He slowed down to let her catch up and turned to talk with him. "I wanted to ask you where we going next."

"Washington. I know a man there who's been the warden for several of the Republic's prisons. Monroe trusts him, but so do I. He might know where they're keeping Charlie."

"Miles, you've said that about every person we've gone to see and none of them knew anything. We've walked all around this area of the Republic. Lancaster, York, Baltimore, Columbia. What makes you think this one will be any different?"

Miles sighed and became frustrated. "Look, I know we've been having a hard time, and I know that this one may not be any different than the others but we have to keep trying! What else can we do? This is our only option, and we have to at least try for Charlie's sake."

"Don't you tell me about Charlie's sake. You're the one who lost her in the first place!"

"I know! It's been haunting me ever since! And if anything happened to her, I'd…" He trailed off and turned away, still not used to having such strong feelings of guilt. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself," Rachel heard him say in a broken voice. Was he crying? She couldn't be positive. That was so unlike him, getting emotional over these things. But then again, the Miles she used to know had murdered families and now look at him, fighting for the rebels and doing the right thing. Maybe he really had changed.

Rachel took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She took a step forward and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Miles let out a sigh and looked back toward the others, who were waiting patiently a few yards ahead of them. "Come on, let's keep moving." They fell back in line and started walking again, just like they'd been doing for what felt like forever. Rachel tried not to think as they went, just focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. When they arrived in Washington she knew she must be exhausted, but her mind was so numb she couldn't even feel it.

Nora and Aaron left the group to trade for some food while Miles and Rachel went on to find his contact. Weaving through a few streets, it wasn't long until they came to a residential area. Miles walked boldly down the road, so she followed suit. Then they came to an apartment building and made their way up to the third floor. He looked over at Rachel for reassurance before knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" A gruff voice asked from within.

"The pizza delivery boy. Who do you think it is, Chris? I know you don't have any friends."

The door opened and revealed a tall blond man standing before them. When he saw Miles, his jaw dropped. "Miles Matheson…"

"Yep, that's me. Can we come in?"

"Uh yeah, hurry before someone sees you."

"No one around here would recognize me, Chris," he said as they stepped inside the apartment.

"Well, you can never be too careful," the man, Chris answered. Rachel took a seat on the couch and glanced around the room. It was nicely decorated, he was clearly in good standing with the general if he was able to afford all this, but it also lacked any sort of distinctive style. She would bet money that he wasn't married. Any woman would have added a personal touch to this room.

Chris took a seat and glanced nervously at Miles. "Now I don't mean to seem rude or anything, after all I'm very glad to see you after all this time. But uh… why exactly are you here?"

"Bass has taken someone prisoner, someone that's very important to us. I was hoping you could tell me where he was keeping her."

"Well, I don't keep tabs on every inmate but I know most of the important ones. Who is it you're looking for?" Miles glanced over at Rachel, clearly indicating for her to take the lead on this. She glanced down to compose herself before answering.

"My daughter. We're looking for my daughter, Charlie Matheson."

Chris's eyes widened. "Charlie Matheson… so, you must be Rachel Matheson." She nodded. "I, I heard of your capture but never met you in person. You were… very important to the general."

"Yeah, she was," Miles interrupted, "but what do you know about my niece?"

He took a deep breath and looked over at Miles. "Not many people know about her. Monroe's been keeping her capture on the down low for some reason, but I can't imagine why. Anyways, I heard that she had been placed in the Graterford facility."

Miles sighed, and Rachel looked to him, not understanding why he could be upset. "That's great news! Now we know where she is, we can get to her."

"Getting to her won't be the problem, it's getting her out that's difficult. Graterford was a maximum security prison before the blackout. After Bass chose Philly as the capital of the Republic we built on to that place, added security measures. That's where we kept our most dangerous of prisoners and Bass turned it in to a fortress."

Rachel felt her heart sink, and Chris looked between the two of them sympathetically. "I'm… I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do but, well you know how the general is." Miles nodded and stood up.

"Yeah. Well, thanks for the information. You were always loyal to me, Captain Bennet."

"General Matheson," he said, and showed them out the door. Rachel leaned against the railing as they began walking down the stairs. Both of them were deep in thought, and it wasn't until they were almost at the rendezvous point with Nora and Aaron before she spoke up.

"So what do we do now?"

Miles sighed and looked up at the moon. A few more days and it would be full, the perfect lighting for what they were going to have to pull off. "Now we walk to Graterford, try to break Charlie out."

"But, I thought you said it was impossible."

"Difficult, never impossible. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve when it come to that place. I did help renovate it after all." Rachel nodded and lowered her head. It was hard for her to imagine her baby girl locked up in a cell, a fate she had suffered for nearly a decade. "Hey," Miles said, placing his hands over her arms. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, and he held her close to him in a hug.

"Everything's going to be all right, we'll get her back," he whispered in to her hair. "Everything's going to be all right."

General Monroe sat behind his desk, looking over the map of North America. His eyes rested on the border between the Monroe Republic and Georgia Federation. He knew the fighting was beginning to escalate with Georgia, and before long there would be an all-out border war, but he wasn't too concerned. Winter was fast approaching, and with it would come the horrible weather and impassable road conditions that would make the transportation of troops nearly impossible. If Georgia was smart, and they were, they would wait until at least April to begin a full assault. Bass had plenty of time to ready his men before the coming war.

The doors to his office opened and one of his soldiers entered, interrupting his thoughts. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but the Captain has just arrived with the latest convoy." Bass nodded, and the young man signaled to someone standing just outside the door. As they entered, Bass stood up to shake their hand.

"Captain Bennet reporting as ordered, sir." he said, and Monroe smiled.

"There's no need for formalities, Chris. We're all friends here, right?" He walked over to his desk and poured drinks for the two of them. "You said you had something to report?"

"Yes, it's about Miles Matheson. He came to my apartment about two days ago asking about his niece. I told him she was being held in Graterford prison, just like you instructed."

Bass smiled. "Thank you, Chris. Your loyalty is appreciated, as always." The captain bowed and left the room. No doubt Miles was on his way to Graterford at that very moment, and the thought made him chuckle. His old friend was walking in to a trap and he didn't even know it. Finally, he would be able to kill Miles, and then there would be no more threats to his Republic.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Phew! This was a really difficult chapter to write, especially the end. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Aaron Pittman was never the kind of guy to be heroic. Before the black-out he was a computer nerd, and afterward he was a useless coward. He wasn't able to take care of his wife, so he left her in other more capable hands. If someone had told him a year ago that he would have spent months walking across the country to rescue someone, he would have said they were crazy, but he had done it. And now here he was again, on a mission to go against impossible odds and save someone much stronger than himself.

This time it was Charlie who was in danger, the little girl who had been fascinated with his stories of the world. He'd spent hours explaining the different places he'd been, and she'd loved every minute of it, but then she grew up. She hadn't needed him anymore, and he was okay with that. No one had ever really needed him around, it was only a matter of time before she realized that he was useless like everyone else.

But then Danny had been taken, and Aaron had found a strength in himself he never knew was there. It had been difficult, but he'd done it, and so had Charlie. She really grew up in that time, and she became more of a hero than he ever was. But now she was in trouble, she needed their help, and he was determined to do everything in his power to get her back.

Aaron looked around at the group of people attempting the rescue. Miles, Rachel, Nora, and himself. It wasn't much, but he was sure that they would succeed in their mission, they always did. Carefully, he lifted the gun in his hands and checked to see if it was loaded. Miles had been reluctant to give him a gun when he first asked for one. He said that he would shoot his eye out, but Nora had convinced him that if they were going to pull this off everyone needed to be armed properly.

"Is everyone ready?" Miles asked, and they all nodded. "Good, then let's go over the plan one more time. Nora?"

She took a stick and drew an outline of the prison. "We can't just shoot out way through, so we have to sneak in. The guards patrol the outer fence continually throughout the night, so we can't let them see us."

Miles took over and indicated the main gate. "Every night a convoy carrying supplies enters through the gate. We're going to get on that convoy and sneak in. We'll have to pass through two check points, here and here, so we have to hide ourselves well. There'll be lots of crates and such filled with things they need, medical supplies, food, so everyone needs to find one to hide in, and hide yourself well. We can't risk getting caught," he added with a shard look towards Aaron. Obviously, Miles didn't think he was capable of hiding himself, probably due to his size. He tried not to let it rattle him.

Miles continued, "Once we're inside, we'll make our way to the warden's office and find the prison manifest. It'll show us where Charlie is. Then Rachel and I will go get her while Nora and Aaron make their way to the outer wall closest to Charlie's cell. They'll set up the explosives and wait for us. Once we have her, Rachel and I will make our way back to Aaron and Nora. Then we'll blow the wall and run like hell. Any questions?

No one spoke up. The plan was pretty straightforward, and in theory everyone knew what they had to do. The problem would be executing it. Any number of things could go wrong once they were inside the prison, but there was nothing they could do to prepare themselves for that. So, they moved out, found the convoy of covered wagons and climbed onboard when they stopped at a crossroads to pick up the last few things.

Aaron quickly found a crate full of fresh bandages and climbed inside. As he hid himself from sight, he tried not to think about what they would be used for or why they needed new ones delivered everyday. He hoped it had nothing to do with how they were treating Charlie. As they neared the first checkpoint, he felt his heart begin to race. Was he hidden well enough? Were the others? But apparently his fears were needless as the soldiers took a quick look and waved them on through. At the second checkpoint they conducted a more thorough search of the wagons. One guard even opened up the bandages and glanced through them, but Aaron had buried himself deep enough so that he wouldn't be spotted.

As soon as they were passed through, he opened up the crate and climbed out of it as quietly as he could. The others did the same, and Miles peered out the back of the wagon. "They're taking us around the back of the building," he whispered, "On my signal, we jump out of the wagon, clear?" Aaron nodded and gripped his gun tighter. This was it. He couldn't fail Charlie now. Miles held up his hand, waited a moment, then signaled them. "Now."

The four of them jumped off the wagon, and Aaron struggled to keep up with the others as they hurried over behind some columns. Already he was breathing heavily, though he tried his best not to show it. Still, he caught Nora giving him a sympathetic glance. Was it that obvious that he was having a hard time? He sighed. Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be?

Miles opened a window and climbed inside the building, followed by Rachel and Nora, then Aaron. It took a bit of maneuvering, but he finally managed to land on the other side of the window pane without making too much noise. He looked over at the door where Miles was aiming his crossbow. After firing a shot, he signaled to the others and they made their way out in to the hall. He went over to the man he had shot and dragged him in to a closet, stealing his jacket off of him as he did.

"Come on," he indicated to the stairwell. "The warden's office is two floors up." Aaron sighed and started climbing the steps first, but by the time they reached the final landing he was last in line. Miles lead the way once again, and quickly picked the lock to the office. Once inside, Aaron headed straight for the building's blueprints and Rachel found the prison manifest while Nora and Miles watched the door.

Rachel skimmed the list of names, finally resting on the one she was looking for. "Here it, Charlie Matheson. It says she's in cell block E, room 104." Aaron glanced down at the blueprints before him, glad to have something he was good at. Finally he could be useful. As he looked through the plans, he started to smile.

"She's practically right below us, just a few hallways over. Her cell is on the ground floor, too." Miles nodded and threw on the jacket he's stolen.

"Great. I'll get Charlie, and the rest of you head to this spot on the outer wall," he pointed to a mostly unused corridor. He turned to leave, but Rachel grabbed his arm.

"Wait, I'm going with you."

"Rachel, no."

"She's my daughter! You said I could go with you."

"Yeah, that was before I knew where she was. Cell block E, that's top security. There's only one way in and out of that place, and that's through a line of guards. You're not even allowed inside unless you have the clearance level of at least a Captain."

"Well then how do you plan on getting to her?" Miles smirked and pulled something from his pocket. Aaron leaned over and saw that is was a militia badge.

"I swiped this from Chris's apartment when we were there, figured I might need it later. He's a Captain, and if I claim to be him the guards will let me through. But Rachel, I've only got one badge."

Rachel stepped back and took in a deep breath. Aaron watched as she seemed to be having some sort of internal battle. He knew how badly she wanted to rescue Charlie herself, but they had to be rational about this. Slowly, she began to nod. "Okay," she said, "Just… be careful and bring her to me. All right?"

Miles nodded. "I promise, I'll get her out of there. You go with Nora and Aaron, all right? I meet you at the wall as soon as possible." And with that, he was left the room. Aaron let out a sigh. The strongest member of their team was gone, and though he trusted Nora she just wasn't Miles Matheson. Still, when she took the lead and led them out in to the hallway, he followed her. After all, she was still the most capable out of the three of them.

Nora took out a couple guards on their way, but by the time they reached the corridor Aaron was surprised at the lack of guards. This was supposed to be a high security prison, after all. It was nearly three in the morning, though. Maybe they didn't have as much staff at this time of the night? It was the only plausible explanation he could think of.

"Aaron, the explosives." Nora gestured to hi backpack, and he slid it off. Quickly he opened it up and began helping her arrange them in a way that would open up a whole without blowing them up with it. Just as they arranged the fuses together, Nora heard something and stood up. "What is that?" All of a sudden soldiers burst inside the room, and Aaron fell back against the wall.

Nora fired her gun and took one of them out, but there were too many. Another bullet rang out and she fell to the floor, clutching her side. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion then, as Aaron tried to process what was happening. He saw the soldiers grab Rachel, strip her of her weapons. Then they picked up Nora and said something about Monroe wanting to execute them personally.

And then they started moving towards him. Aaron looked around frantically, there had to be something he could do. Rachel and Nora were already being dragged away, and he couldn't let that happen, but how?

Then he remembered the matches in his hand and it was clear. This was his chance to be the hero he never was, to save his friends when they were in need of his help. He was the only one who could do this.

Quickly, he lit the match, and just before the soldiers grabbed him he thrust it in to the fuse. "Get down!" he heard someone yell, and he glanced back at Nora and Rachel. The last thing he saw was their confused faces before the whole world went black.

Miles arranged his jacket as he stepped from the office and paused to run a hand through his hair. If he was going to pretend to be Chris Bennet he needed to look the part of a captain. Satisfied with his appearance, he continued on through the darkened hallways until he reached a more busy area of the prison. Thankfully he had this uniform, or he never would have been able to walk past these cells. Two guards stood at every door, armed with assault rifles.

When he reached the security checkpoint, all he had to do was flash his badge and claim he had orders from the general himself and they let him through. They even sent along a personal escort to show him Charlie's cell. He took a deep breath before the door, bracing himself for what he may see inside, but once he stepped in his heart stopped. Nothing could have prepared him for this.

"Hey, Miles"

"Bass?" There he stood, Sebastian Monroe. His greatest enemy and his greatest friend, all wrapped up in to one person, just not the person he had been looking for. "This was a trap." he realized.

"Now you're getting it," Bass said, raising his gun to Miles' head. He reacted too, pulling out his pistol, but neither of them fired a shot. Just like last time. "Honestly I'm surprised it took you this long. Tom was convinced you would come as soon as you heard Charlie's name, but I wasn't so sure. I thought you were smarter than this, Miles."

"Where's Charlie?" he demanded, still holding his ground. Bass let out a laugh.

"She's not here. Did you really think she would be?" Yes, he had. He didn't think that Chris would lie to him, but he did. He didn't think that this was a trap, but it was. "Really Miles, what is it about that girl that's made you so… weak?" Miles glanced down at the floor. Charlie really had become his weakness. He had tried to deny it, but after this it was impossible. Bass had played with his heartstrings and now he had him exactly where he wanted him to be.

"Miles Matheson." Bass continued, "You used to be so legendary. People were afraid of you, because you were invincible. They were afraid of the Republic because you made it invincible, too." He took a step back and started to laugh again. "And now I've beaten you! I'm the invincible one, and in the end it was easy." Miles repositioned his gun. He'd heard enough of this crap, and it was time for him to get some straight answers.

"Where the hell are you keeping Charlie?"

"Not here."

"You said that already, damn it! Where is she?"

"Why on earth would I tell you, of all people?" Bass began walking towards him, and he started to feel nervous. This wasn't his old friend. This man was insane. "I only have Charlie because of you. You brought this on her, not me. After you left I gave you every chance to come back, but you never did, and now Charlie is paying the price. You brought this on her yourself, Miles!"

Bass jumped forward, and Miles tried to react but he wasn't fast enough. Listening to those accusations had thrown him off, just proving once again that Charlie was making him weak. Bass grabbed his gun right out of his hand and pinned him to the floor, pointing the weapon at his head. "So give me one good reason why I should tell you where Charlie is, because I can't think of one. After all," Bass stared him right in the eyes with hatred as he spat out each word. "You are nothing to me."

Miles closed his eyes and he heard the safety release on his old friend's gun. This was it, this was how he was going to die. At the hands of his best friend, who had gone insane. It wasn't exactly the most heroic way to go. He only hoped that the others made it out of the prison, and maybe they could find someone else to rescue Charlie. But then, nothing happened. No bullet ripped through his brain. Miles was still alive.

When he opened his eyes and looked at Bass, he saw confusion, hesitation, hatred. Clearly, he wanted to shoot him, but something was holding him back. And he said that he was nothing to him? "No. Apparently I'm not." Miles pushed his friend off of him and ran from the room, leaving Bass alone in the cell.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Well, you guys wanted more Bass/Charlie! I hope this doesn't disappoint. :)

Bass knocked back another shot of whiskey and sat down at his desk. He had a vacant expression in his eyes, just staring out in to space. Miles was right there, exactly where he wanted him to be. All he had to do was pull the trigger. It should have been so easy to kill him, but it wasn't. He thought he had prepared himself for that moment. He'd convinced himself that he hated Miles, and he did. But he also still cared about him. Bass let out a little laugh. Miles was his weakness, just Charlie was Miles'. He'd heard it said that the ones closest to us are capable of causing us the most pain, and apparently it was true.

He should have known this would happen, that he wouldn't be able to do it. True, Bass despised Miles. Because he had tried to kill him, because he left the Republic in shambles and it was up to Bass to put it back together. Because he had broken his promise. But then, he had also chosen Charlie to be the mother of his child. Why was that? Because he still respected Miles, and he still wanted some part of him in the future of their Republic.

He hated Miles, he missed Miles. It was an interesting mix of emotions, and Bass cursed himself for feeling it. Everything would be so much easier if emotions didn't get in the way, but they did. And now he was paying the price. Miles was free, and he probably hated Bass more now than he ever had before. No doubt he would be coming for his niece as soon as he found out where she was being kept. Bass smiled, imagining the look on his old friend's face when he found out she had been in his old room this whole time, and what they'd been doing in there. Miles was going to be furious. He stood up and grabbed the whiskey, taking a swig directly from the bottle. Tonight, he just needed to lose himself, and there were two good ways to do that. Alcohol, and Charlie.

Bass made his way down the halls. He may have been drunk, but he still new exactly how to get to her. After all, he went there every single night. When he reached the doors he didn't even bother knocking. He just walked right in like he owned the place, which he did of course. Charlie was sitting at her desk, reading some book written before the black-out. When he walked in, she took one look at him and said, "You're drunk."

"That obvious?" he asked with a grin. Charlie didn't return it. She didn't even look at him, just turned back to her book. Bass was used to this type of hostile behavior from her, but he was hoping it would have eased up a bit by now.

"You're sweating like pig, your hands are shaking, and that bottle you're carrying around is nearly empty. So yeah, I'd say it's pretty obvious, Monroe."

Bass walked over and ran his hand through her long, blond hair. She was so beautiful, and so strong. He knew he had made a good choice, because she would make an excellent mother. "It told you to call me Bass." He started to lean over and kiss her neck, but she stood up abruptly.

"And I said I was never going to."

"Charlie," he warned, starting to get angry with her. Would she ever learn it was better if she didn't resist? Every time she tried to stop him, but every time he overpowered her. He was trying not to hurt her, but it was becoming more and more difficult as she continued to fight him.

"Listen, it's bad enough when you're sober, but I will not let you do this to me while you're drunk. So you just turn around, and you leave." He took step towards her, and she began to inch back. He watched her try to put on a brave face, but it was obvious to him that she was afraid, just as she should be.

"Look, it's been a hard day for me."

"And I don't want to hear about it. I'm not your wife. You don't get to come home from a difficult day and tell me all about it, okay? I'm not even here because I want to be! You're the one who's forcing me in to this. I didn't choose it, and I don't have to put up with all of your emotional crap!"

That was it, the last straw. Bass jumped forward and grabbed Charlie, pushing her up against the wall. She cried out when he gripped her arms so tight, he was sure there would be bruises later. "You don't get to talk to me that way," he said menacingly, getting right up in her face and looking her in the eyes. "I've been playing nice so far, I've been letting you throw your little tantrums, but I'm tired of it. You can't keep acting like this. I am the one who doesn't have to put up with your emotional crap. I'm the one in charge!"

Maybe he was letting the alcohol get the better of him now, but Bass didn't care. He could feel Charlie's body beginning to shake out of fear. Clearly, she was beginning to realize her mistake, and that was good. Maybe after tonight she would learn her lesson and stop being so stubborn. Maybe she would start to cooperate once he showed her just how bad it could be if she continued this way.

"Please, don't." she whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes. Bass was stunned for a moment. Never once had she cried before, not one time. He shook his head. No, he couldn't let her get to him, not now. "Please," she paused a moment, then very intentionally added, "Please, Bass."

There, she said it. She called him by his name, just like he had been asking her to do for the past few weeks. And why was that? Probably because she was scared, just another way to try to make him stop. Or perhaps she was beginning to understand that she should go along with what he wanted and accept things for the way they were. Either way, he needed to make a decision. Do as she asked, or not?

Bass tried to think of reasons for either side, but the alcohol was making beginning to make his brain fuzzy. Now he was beginning to regret drinking so much. This was a crucial moment, he could not mess it up! "No," he said to Charlie, and her face fell. "It's too late for that now." Then he slammed his lips against hers, and he felt her tears on his face, mixing with his own.

Bass left her room at sunrise, but Charlie staid in bed for a few more hours after that. The night before had been terrifying, more than any time he'd come to her in the past two weeks. She had been so scared when he walked in carrying that bottle of whiskey. Though she'd never been drunk herself, she had seen plenty of times what alcohol could do to a person, and Bass was unstable enough when he was sober. Whatever had happened yesterday must have been pretty bad, because Charlie had never seen him this upset over anything before. It was petrifying.

When she finally did get out of bed, the first thing she did was walk to the mirror and check for bruises. Sure enough there were several, and in several different places as well. She shuddered to think of how they'd gotten there, and she hoped they would go away soon. As long as they were there, they would be a reminder of what had happened, and she would prefer to forget what happened.

Bass. She had finally broken and called him Bass. He had seemed… pleased when she did, but it hadn't really helped the situation at all. A horrifying thought suddenly came over her. She had given in when he started being rough. Oh, she hoped he was too drunk to really remember what had happened the night before because if he did, if he realized what it was that had broken her… she was sure the rest of her life was going to become a living hell.

Damn it! Why had she called him Bass? Why couldn't she have just kept a hold of herself and dealt with it instead of getting scared? Because it was scary, she reasoned. Anyone would have reacted that way. Still, it didn't mean there wouldn't be terrible consequences in the future. Now Bass knew how to make her relent. He knew her weakness, and he was in the perfect position to exploit it.

Charlie sighed and looked out her window again. Why was she still here? Why hadn't Miles come to rescue her yet? It had been over two weeks now and still there was no sign of him. Every day she watched diligently from the window for any sign of a disturbance. She found herself searching faces, hoping that one of them would Miles, Nora, Aaron, her mother, but she never recognized anyone. Surely if they were looking for her, they would have come by now.

But then again, maybe they weren't coming. Charlie didn't like to even consider the possibility, but she had to be rational about this. So many times, Miles had threatened to leave her when he thought the odds were against them, and the odds sure as hell were against him now. Then she thought about her mother, who had promised to always be there for her as a child, but she just left. Her mother had abandoned her before, why wouldn't she do it again? Aaron just wanted to go home, Nora had only agreed to rescue Danny and then she was going back to the rebels.

Charlie let out a sigh and sat down at her desk. It hurt, knowing that they could abandon her like this, but she also knew it was inevitable. She'd been a fool to think that someone else would rescue her from this torment. Well now it was time for her to grow up, to accept the fact that the only person she could always rely on was herself. No one else was coming for her. She was alone.

But then again, there was also no way out of her glorified jail cell. She's tried before and failed. Charlie was beginning to realize the horrifying truth that was her reality. She was doomed to live the rest of her life as Bass's baby-making slave girl.

No. She couldn't live that way. If Bass thought she was just going to cower down and accept her fate, he was an idiot. Charlie wasn't stupid. She knew it was impossible for her to escape Philadelphia. Bass had told her once that if she murdered him, his men would kill her before she could celebrate her victory. Maybe that was true, but Charlie knew one thing. She would rather be dead and have killed the man responsible for everything she had lost, than live as his slave forever. It was clear what she had to do now.

She was going to kill Sebastian Monroe.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N I know, another really fast I update. I was jut dying to write this chapter! I apologize in advance if Julia seems out of character, but we honestly haven't seen that much of her on the show and I really like her this way. Plus, it fits the purposes of my story. Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter!

Miles dumped the last bit of dirt and stepped away from the grave. True, the majority of them had made it out of the prison, but that was all thanks to Aaron. They all owed their lives to his bravery, and now he was dead. It was now that he thought back to all the times he had criticized him for his incompetence and his size, and he regretted all of it. Aaron was a good man, and despite his faults he saved them all. Miles wished he could apologize for all the hell he put him through, but it was too late for that now.

It was his fault of course, it always was. He should have known better. This was obviously a trap, now that he thought about it. Originally he had thought they were just lucky, making it through the checkpoints, avoiding the guards. Now he knew they were being set up the whole time.

Miles glanced over at Nora and Rachel. Clearly, both of them were having a hard time with everything, the loss of Aaron, failing to retrieve Charlie. Slowly but surely they were losing people. It made him wonder who would be the last one to go, and if he would be the cause of every single one. He ruined everything. No one should stay with him, he'll only get them hurt or killed.

Rachel walked over and took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears. "So, Miles," she said, "What do we do now?" He sighed and shook his head hopelessly. "I mean, did Monroe say anything to you, any little word that might tell you where he was keeping Charlie?"

"No, nothing. In fact, he was very adamant that he would never tell me." Rachel turned and sat down on a bench beside Nora. "But, I do know Bass, and I think I have a guess."

"What is it? Where?" she asked hopefully

"He would want her somewhere she couldn't escape, that's for sure. And since she's not here, she has to be in the one place in this country that's more secure."

"And where's that?"

"Philadelphia," Nora said, rising from her seat to join the conversation. "Monroe's keeping her in Philadelphia. Probably in the militia headquarters, wouldn't you say, Miles?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Bass would want to keep a close watch on her to make sure she doesn't escape, so it makes the most sense."

"Well then we've got to go to Philly," Rachel said, picking up her things. Nora turned to her.

"And how exactly do you plan on getting inside?"

"I don't know, but we have to go there. Charlie has been in there for over two weeks, and I can't bear to think of what she's been through. We have to go, and we have to rescue my daughter. Right, Miles?"

She looked at him with a hopeful expression. Clearly she was determined to see this through, and she was right. They had to at least try to rescue Charlie. "Yeah. Come on, Nora. We'll just have to find a way inside once we get there." Miles shouldered his pack and started down the road. They had a long walk ahead of them.

Julia Neville was not a servant by any means, yet every day she brought Charlie Matheson her breakfast. Most times she even staid and shared the meal with her. It wasn't as if she had anywhere else to go, with her husband away on an assignment and Jason off living in the wilderness. It was nice to have the company, even though Charlie was hardly the talkative type. Julia couldn't blame her. After all she was practically still a child, even younger than her own son, and with what the general was putting her through… well, she was surprised the girl hadn't tried to kill him already. She would have.

The guards checked her tray thoroughly before allowing Julia through, checking for any sort of weapon. General Monroe was very strict about not letting her escape. Either she just made him paranoid, or Charlie was a serious threat to him. Either way, Julia had decided that she liked the girl. As soon as she walked in, she could tell that something was off. The sitting room was empty, and the sheets were already pulled back.

"Charlie?" she called, setting down their breakfast, "Where are you?"

"Right here," she heard, and turned around to see Charlie walking out from the bathroom. She was shocked to see her wearing a sweater. It was so unlike her to wear anything so… feminine. Normally she wore a tank top or a t-shirt, but this was totally different than anything she'd worn before.

"Uh, Charlie why are you wearing a sweater? It's so unlike you." Charlie glanced down at her clothing and furrowed her brow, obviously trying to come up with an excuse.

"I was just… cold."

"It's September."

"Exactly. I always dress more warmly in the fall." Julia wasn't buying it, and she gave Charlie a pointed look.

"Am I not allowed to wear a sweater?" she said defensively. Obviously she wasn't just going to open up and tell her everything, and honestly why should she? Her husband killed the girl's father and kidnapped her brother. Though they never talked about it, Julia could tell that she resented her personally for that.

"No, it's fine I suppose," she answered, and sat down at the table. "Please, sit." Charlie did as she suggested and took the chair across from her, and she noted the careful way she was moving. As she started to fill her plate, Julia gestured to the drinks she had brought. "Which would you like to have today?" she asked. Charlie eyed the wine for long moment before picking orange juice. It made her curious. What was wrong with the girl this morning?

Then both women began to eat their breakfast. Normally Julia would attempt to make small talk at this point, but not today. Today she was too preoccupied with Charlie's odd behavior to even think about it. Yesterday morning the girl had been completely fine, or as fine as she could be under the circumstances. Obviously something had changed in the past twenty-four hours, something drastic. But what could have caused this?

"How do you do it?" Charlie asked, bringing her back to the present. Julia was completely surprised. Charlie was never the one to speak first.

"Um… do what?"

"This," she said, gesturing to the table. "You come in here every morning and eat breakfast with me. You sit here, and you talk about social events and the latest news like everything is fine. Well it's not fine, Julia!" Now she stood up and started pacing the room, getting really worked up. "Never once do you mention what Bass is doing to me, what he's done to me every single night since I've come here! How can you just walk in here and act like it doesn't matter? Like it's all okay?"

Julia rose from her chair and walked over to Charlie, placing a hand on her shoulder. Never had she been like this before, and she needed to calm down. "I'm sorry. All right, Charlie? I truly am." She saw tears beginning to form in the girl's eyes, and it made her heart break. "I never talked about it because I didn't think you wanted me to. I didn't want to make you upset."

"But why do you go along with him? You know what a monster he is and you don't do anything to stop him!"

"Because there is nothing I can do, Charlie. Believe me, I know what he's doing to you is wrong, but I also know that the general is very unstable and if I challenged his authority there is no telling what he would do to me. I don't even have Tom here to help me, because he's off on some assignment in Virginia!" Julia sighed and tried to calm herself down. They needed to lower their voices, just in case the guards at the door could hear them.

"So you see, Charlie," she explained, "You may be the one that's locked up, but I'm just as much a prisoner as you are."

Charlie shook her head and stepped toward the woman. "You may be a prisoner, but you're far better off than I am, so don't act like you're the victim here."

"And you're far better off than most of the people Monroe has brought here." The girl let out a laugh of disbelief and start to turn away from her, but Julia followed. "It's true! There are people locked in their cells beneath this building. They never get to see the sunlight, and a lot of them don't survive interrogation for more than a week. At least you don't have to deal with that! At least he doesn't hurt you, not physically."

Charlie froze in place, then slowly turned around. The tears were gone, her expression totally replaced by anger. "You think he doesn't hurt me?" she asked quietly. Julia said nothing. She couldn't, not when Charlie was looking at her like that. Maybe she had been wrong about that little detail, but she couldn't imagine why Monroe would hurt her. He did want her to have his baby after all. It didn't make sense.

"Come here," Charlie said, and walked over to her bedroom. Julia followed slowly behind, unsure of what she was going to see. When she entered the room, Charlie went over to her bed and pulled back the sheets, revealing a blood stain. Julia gasped and looked in shock at the girl across from her, who was once again fighting back tears. "I didn't realize how bad it was until I made my bed this morning."

"Charlie…" she said slowly, "What the hell happened last night?"

"Bass," she answered, her voice almost a whisper, "He came in here drunk and upset and… I tried to get him to leave but it only made him more mad."

Julia moved forward and placed a hand on her arm. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea. If there was anything I could do I-"

"There is. There is something you can do." Charlie walked back to the table and began cleaning up their breakfast, putting things on the tray. "I need you to sneak something in to me when you bring me breakfast. Do you think you can do that?"

"I… I think so. But what do you need?"

Charlie picked up the tray and handed it back to Julia. "I need you to get me a knife. I want to kill Bass."

"What?" In shock, Julia felt the tray slip from her grip and fall to the floor, spilling food and drinks all over the carpet. Charlie sighed, and they both leaned down and started to clean up. Glancing at the door to make sure no one was coming in, Julia whispered, "You want me to help you kill Monroe?" Charlie nodded. "But… why?

"He killed my brother, kept my mother captive, made my life a living hell-"

"I meant, why would you trust me? I could report you to the general for this."

"Because I know you hate him, too. And because you're the only person here who's actually felt sorry for me and wanted to help." Charlie leaned over to pick up the wine bottle, getting a whiff of the alcohol smell as she did. Suddenly she turned white as a sheet, and hurried to the bathroom.

"Charlie?" Julia asked, going to the door. "Are you okay?" She looked in and saw her leaning over the sink, holding back her hair with one hand. She was breathing heavily, and had just vomited up most of her breakfast. "Charlie?"

"It's fine," she said dismissively. "I just… the smell of alcohol makes me sick now." Julia watched sympathetically and handed her some water. She drank the whole cup before turning back to the older woman. "So? Will you help me do this?" Julia didn't even need to think about her response.

"Yes. I will."


	9. Chapter 9

Charlie paced her room back and forth, waiting for Julia to come in with breakfast. Maybe this would be the day she came in with a weapon. Maybe this would be the day she would kill Bass for all he's done. Of course that would mean she would die right after, but she wouldn't care at that point. All she had to live for was her revenge, and after that was complete, it didn't matter if she died.

When the door opened, Charlie hurried over to Julia. "Did you get it?" she asked expectantly, but a quick shake of the head dashed all her hopes. It had been days now, and still she didn't have any kind of weapon she could use.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. I really am," Julia explained, "I keep trying to find some way to sneak it in but it's impossible! I'm searched before I can even step in the building, and they don't leave a single dish unturned before they let me in to see you."

"It's been days, nearly a week. You've had plenty of time to find a weakness in their routines."

"Believe me, if there was one I'd have exploited it by now." Charlie sighed in defeat, knowing that the other woman was right. Julia wanted Bass to be killed just as much as she did, so she wouldn't have hesitated to act if she'd thought there was a chance of success. They sat down at the table and began to eat. They may have been plotting the downfall of the most powerful man in the Republic, but everyone had to eat at some point.

"I'm just… getting tired of waiting around," Charlie tried to explain, "Bass is becoming more and more unpredictable. Sometimes he acts just like he's done for weeks, but at others," she trailed off, deep in thought for a moment. "At other times he's angry." Julia nodded her head in understanding, though she didn't really know. Tom Neville was a brutal man, but somehow Charlie doubted he'd ever been that way with his wife. She seemed too polished to have ever dealt with that.

Of course Bass's erratic behavior wasn't the only problem she'd been having. Lately Charlie had been feeling nauseated, and she was more tired than usual. It worried her. Was she getting sick with something? She wasn't sure, but at any rate if she was going to kill Bass she needed to act now before whatever was wrong with her got worse. She hadn't told Julia, not wanting to draw any attention to the issue, but now she was wondering if she should. Maybe if the other woman knew that something was wrong, she would work harder to help her kill Bass as soon as possible. Then again, she might change her mind and say they needed to wait, that it was too dangerous. Perhaps it was best to leave the situation as it was.

Suddenly, Charlie felt a wave of nausea overtake her and she hurried to the bathroom. As she was emptying her stomach of its contents, she felt Julia come to the doorway. "Are you sure you're all right?" So much for leaving the situation alone.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It must have been the eggs or something." She tried to dismiss the issue, but Julia wasn't buying it.

"Charlie, I ate the same thing as you and I'm fine. Now you tell me what's going on. Has this been going on for a while?" Lying was no use at this point, she knew, so she slowly nodded her head.

"For about a week. I've been really tired too, I think I might be coming down with something."

Julia gave her one of those accusing and shocked looks that only a grown adult could give. "Why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Because, I didn't want you to cancel our plans. I just want to get this over with, Julia. I can't deal with any kind of sickness right now." She sighed and placed a hand on the other woman's arm. "Please, can we just forget it ever happened?" Julia gave her a pointed look, and Charlie knew there was no use in arguing anymore. "Fine."

They went and sat back down at the table. "Good. Now, tell me exactly what's been going on with you this past week. Don't leave a single thing out." Charlie began to explain the frequency of her nausea and how she felt tired more often than she had before. Then she came to the awkward things. She tried to avoid them, but Julia was very persistent about getting the details. As she explained what was going on, she saw an odd look overcoming Julia's face, almost like she was worried about something.

"What is it?" she asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

"I… I don't know. Maybe." Julia stood up and began slowly pacing. She was nervous about something, and that made Charlie wonder if she should be nervous too or if she was just overreacting. "Charlie I need to ask you something, and I need you to be completely honest with me." She nodded, indicating for her to continue. "When was your last cycle?"

Had she seriously just asked her that? Charlie was speechless for a moment, totally shocked. "Um… it was a couple weeks before I got taken, so almost six weeks ago?" Julia sighed.

"You're late, Charlie."

"Well yeah, but not by much. It's really not that big of a deal. I've been irregular all my life! Well, all my teenage life. I'm sure it's nothing."

"I still think it would be a good idea for you to see the doctor."

Charlie swallowed, not liking where this conversation was going. She didn't like it at all. "And why is that, Julia?"

"Because I think you might be pregnant."

Sebastian Monroe didn't like to be interrupted when he was working. So when the soldier came in during an important meeting, needless to say he angry. "Sir, your presence has been requested."

"My presence? And who has the authority to request that?"

"The doctor, sir. He's with the Matheson girl and he says he has important news."

Well that certainly was interesting. Bass called the meeting adjourned and made his way to the doctor's medical facilities. Could this be it? The news he'd been waiting for? Or was there something wrong with Charlie? He hoped everything was all right, and he desperately hoped that if something was wrong it wasn't because of him and his actions.

When he stepped in to the office he was surprised at who he saw waiting. "Mrs. Neville? What are you doing here?" As soon as she saw him she stood from her chair out of respect.

"General," she said with a nod of her head. "I was having breakfast with Charlie and I thought it might be necessary for her to see the doctor, so I accompanied her."

"Why? What's going on with her?" Before she could answer, the doctor and Charlie walked out from the examining room. When she saw him there she immediately looked down and took a seat. Something was different, he noted. Bass turned to the doctor. "Dr. Turner, is something wrong?"

"Oh no, sir, not at all."

"Then why have you summoned me?"

"Well, when Mrs. Neville brought this girl in and told me of her suspicions, I thought it best that you be informed."

Bass raised an eyebrow. Would the man not just tell him what was going on instead of beating around the bush? "Dr. Turner, what exactly were her suspicions.?"

"That Charlie here is expecting." he said with a smile. Bass took in a gasp, and he felt his heart skip a beat. Could it be true? This was the news he'd been waiting to hear for so long, ever since he brought Charlie here to begin with.

"And is it true?" Charlie asked quietly, "Am I pregnant?"

Dr. Turner beamed as he answered, "Well, after a thorough examination I have come to the conclusion that, yes, you are in fact pregnant."

Bass couldn't believe it. His plans had actually worked! Things were going exactly as he wanted them to go, and it was perfect. He couldn't help but smile as he thought of all the future would hold now. "When will the baby arrive?" he asked as he looked over at Charlie with pride.

"Well it would seem that Miss Matheson is somewhere between three and four weeks in to her pregnancy. I'd say we'll have a little one sometime this May." May. Not too long to wait, only about eight months. Then again, he could be in the middle of a war with Georgia at that time. He'd planned on making a full assault this spring as soon as the roads became passable. Now he knew he would just have to strike harder so that the territory would be his before the baby came.

Dr. Turner asked Julia to help him with some things in the other room, leaving Bass alone with Charlie. He walked over to her and sat at her side, noticing as he did that he hand was absent-mindedly resting on her stomach. She still didn't look at him, staring in to space with no emotion on her face, and he wondered what she was thinking about. Was she happy to be having a child, or upset? "So what now?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

"Now, we wait eight months and then we have a baby." Charlie turned her head towards him and looked at him with fearful eyes.

"And what are you going to do with a baby, Bass?" He stood up from his chair and began pacing the room.

"Well I suppose for the first few years there won't be much to be done. Most likely he'll spend the majority of his time with you, since he'll need constant care. Then once he's old enough he'll begin his education, I'll probably hire a full-time tutor to oversee that. And I shall instruct him myself on war tactics, how to govern the Republic, diplomacy, things of that nature. By the time he is fully grown he'll be a very capable General."

Yes, his son was going to be perfect, he'd see to that. And with a combination of Monroe and Matheson running through his veins, no one would be able to take away his claim to the Republic.

"And if it's a girl?" Charlie asked, and Bass froze. He hadn't really thought about what he would do with a girl. Nothing much, he supposed. She would probably be left in the care of her mother.

"Then we'll just have to keep trying for a boy," he answered. Just then Dr. Turner and Mrs. Neville returned to the room. Bass turned to him and said, "Thank you for informing me of the news, doctor. I trust you'll keep me updated on her condition?"

"Of course, sir." And with that, Bass left the room. He was much too excited to return to his work now, so he started towards his living quarters, all the while imagining a boy with curly hair and blue eyes calling him father.

A/N So, what do you guys think? Will Charlie have a little girl or a little boy? Obviously we won't be finding out for a while but I'd like to know what you guys thoughts are.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Wow, this was a tough chapter to write! I really hope I did a decent job with Charlie's emotions... Let me know what you think?

After their visit to the doctor, Charlie returned to her room with Julia. They didn't speak a word on the way back, both caught up in their own thoughts. Charlie kept replaying the doctor's words in her mind, over and over. "You are pregnant," he had said. "You are pregnant." It was a difficult thing to process, and at first she could hardly even think clearly. All she knew was that when Bass came and sat next to her, her hand went over stomach almost out of instinct. His presence was threatening, and she felt the overwhelming urge to protect… her baby.

It was odd really, Charlie thought. At that very moment, there was a baby inside her. Her body was creating another human being. To most people it would be such a simple thing. It was a fact of life that in reproduction the female carried the child to term, and Charlie had known that all her life. But now it was personal, now it really struck her how amazing it was. For the next eight months, she was going to be transforming nutrients in to muscle and tissue until she created a baby.

And then it really hit her. She was going to have a baby, a child formed from her own genetic material. She was going to be a mother. At that point Charlie began to panic. She didn't know that first thing about being a mother! Her own had left a long time ago, so she had to take care of herself and Danny. She didn't know the first thing about babies, that was for sure. Had she ever held one? She didn't think so. How was she supposed to hold a baby, or change a diaper, or… oh God, she was going to have to nurse him or her. How exactly did that even work?

Charlie was completely unprepared for this. She wasn't ready, and honestly she doubted is she ever would be, but now she had no choice. She was going to be a mother, and her child was going to be depending on her. He or she would need her to take care of them, and to protect them from harm. They would especially need her to protect them from Bass… from their father. Charlie shook her head. She couldn't even think about that little detail right then.

The important thing was that her child was going to dependent on her, and she wasn't so sure she could handle that. For years, Danny had been her responsibility and she took care of him, but in the end she failed. Danny was dead, and Charlie couldn't do anything to stop it. If she couldn't protect her brother, how on earth was she supposed to protect her baby?

Finally they arrived at her room, and the first thing Charlie did when the doors closed was turn to Julia. "I can't do this," she said, "I can't."

"But you have to," she answered, and Charlie let out a shaky breath. Julia was right, she had no choice in this now. And though she didn't know how to be a mother, she was sure about one thing. She had to at least try to protect her baby's life, no matter what the cost was to herself. "So what do we do now?" Julia asked.

"About what?"

"About killing the General. Do you think we can still go through with it?"

Charlie sighed. Up until now her answer would have been yes, no question, but now she had to think about things rationally. "If I were to kill him, and I did succeed, what do you think the chances would be of my survival?"

Julia seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before she replied. "I'm not sure. Monroe will probably leave orders for you to not be harmed in the case of his death, at least until the baby is born."

"Yes, but there's no guarantee that his soldiers would honor those orders once he was gone."

Julia nodded her head in agreement. "True. In fact, whoever took control of the Republic after his death might specifically try to kill you and your child. That way neither of you would never be able to threaten his claim to power."

Charlie sighed. When she had originally decided to kill Bass, she had known her death was inevitable, and she had been okay with that. Her life was unimportant in comparison to getting revenge for Danny, but now everything was different. It wasn't just about her life anymore, it was about her child's life too. "I can't do it then," she said sadly.

"What?" Julia asked in shock.

"I can't, not if there's even the slightest chance I might die."

"That never stopped you before."

"Well, it's stopping me now." Julia opened her mouth to protest, but Charlie interrupted her. "Look, I know you want to kill Bass. Believe me, no one wants him dead more than I do right now! But there is one thing that's more important than vengeance, and that's family. As much as I want Bass to pay for what he's done, I have to put my baby's life first. Surely you can understand that."

Slowly, the other woman's expression began to soften. "You're right, I'm… I'm sorry. I'd do anything for my own son, so I apologize. I never should have even suggested that."

"I know, it's all right. I do still want to kill Bass, but not like this. Not when my baby is at risk."

"So what do you think we should do, then?" Charlie sat down at the table and tried to think. The most important thing was staying alive at this point. Was there any way she could make a move against Bass and still be safe? She didn't think so. Maybe her only choice was to do nothing, just sit back and wait for the baby to be born. Charlie didn't like that option at all, but it might be the only way to ensure her child survived. Of course that would also mean that he or she would grow up with Bass as a father, and that she could not condone.

True, he was the baby's biological father, and if things were different he would have the right to be in its life, but Charlie had to be realistic about her situation. The man was a psychopath. If he was allowed to exert his influence in her child's life, who knows what the impact could be. He could turn her baby in to a ruthless killing machine if she staid, and she could not let that happen.

The solution to her problem was clear. Somehow, Charlie would have to kill Bass and also manage to escape the militia. But how was she going to do that? Already she had tried to escape Philadelphia, and she knew that was impossible. Plus, Bass would probably restrict her freedom even more now that he knew for a fact she was pregnant. Charlie was at a complete loss.

"I have to get away from Bass," Charlie said decisively. "I can't try to kill him as long as I'm under the militia's control, and I can't just sit back and stay here for the rest of my life."

Julia shook her head. "Even if you got out of Philly, which would be hard enough, how would you evade the militia? You know they would come after you full force."

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'd have to leave the Monroe Republic. Maybe head down to the Georgia Federation?"

"That would be hard to do, travel across the country alone and in your condition?"

"What other choice would I have? Besides, that would be the least of my problems compared to the difficulty I'd have getting out of this city."

"About that…" Julia began, and Charlie tilted her head curiously. "I might have an idea about how to get you out."

Jason Neville was supposed to be dead. His father had told everyone that he was shot in a firefight with the rebels, ever the loyal soldier to the last. On the one hand, he was grateful to his father for not revealing the full extent of his betrayal, which would surely lead to his arrest and execution. On the other, he was furious that his father had beaten him and told him never to come home. So, as soon as the Major was sent on an assignment in Virginia, Jason snuck in to Philadelphia.

That first night had been tricky. He remembered a secret way in and out of the city from when he was a kid, and he knew he would have to be careful he wasn't seen. It was difficult, but worth all the effort as soon as he stepped inside the house and saw his mother's joyous face. She'd been so happy to see him, and he was very pleased to see her. So, every day for the past week he had snuck in to the city at night, visited his mother, and snuck back out before dawn.

But last night had been different. Instead of telling him to be safe when he left, his mother had given him a mission. Find Miles Matheson, and help him rescue Charlie. Needless to say he'd been shocked when he heard that Charlie was being held captive by General Monroe, in his headquarters no less, but he was even more surprised that his mother wanted him to help her.

Jason would be able to find Miles no problem. He'd seen him and Nora scouting out the perimeter of Philly the last few days, and they had a blond woman with them, too. He'd assumed that the group had split and gone their separate ways, that Charlie had returned home with her brother and the fat guy while those three planned some sort of strike on the capital. Now he knew he couldn't have been more wrong, and he wished he had revealed himself to them earlier.

The group was resting at their camp after a long day of scouting when Jason approached them. He could tell they were in a bad mood and it might not have been the best time to reveal himself, but he couldn't afford to wait any longer. Charlie couldn't afford for him to wait. As soon as he stepped out in to the clearing, Miles drew a gun. "Put your hands up!" he said, and Jason obeyed.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to help," he explained, and Miles forced him down on his knees.

"Oh, and I'm just supposed to trust you? After all the times you've betrayed us? Like hell, that's gonna happen."

"Please, just listen," he said, and he could tell that Nora and the blond woman were paying close attention. "I left the militia. I'm not with them any more, I swear it!"

"Oh yeah?" Miles questioned, pointing his gun at the back of Jason's head. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because, I can help you get Charlie out of Philadelphia." Everyone was silent, even Miles Matheson. For a moment they just looked at each other, trying to figure out if he was to be trusted, if this was their chance. Suddenly, Jason felt himself being lifted to his feet, then spun around to come face to face with a pistol.

"You can get us to Charlie?" he nodded. "Why would you do that?"

"I know how to get in to the city, and there are tons of secret ways inside that headquarters building that the general added after you left. I can get you in and out in-"

"I didn't ask you how you would do it, I asked why. So, why?"

Jason took in a deep breath. Why was he doing this again? Because it was something to do besides wait in the woods. Because his mother had asked him to. Because he hated the thought of Charlie being the general's prisoner. But most importantly? "Because it's the right thing to do."

Miles narrowed his eyes, searching Jason's face for any hint of a lie, but there was none. From behind him, the blond woman said, "Miles, I think we should trust him. He might be Charlie's only hope."

Jason held his breath, waiting for Matheson's decision. Slowly, the man began to nod. "All right. I'll let you help, but I swear if I even get a feeling that you might be betraying us, I will kill you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." he answered, and started showing them his plan.


	11. Chapter 11

Bass leaned over and looked at all the sketches on the table. There were many different designs here, but he was having a hard time narrowing them down. He knew he only wanted the best for his son's nursery, but unfortunately he didn't exactly have the eye for this sort of thing. The doors opened and he turned around to see Charlie being escorted inside by two soldiers. "Why am I here?" she asked, not wasting any time on formalities.

"Come, take a look at these." Hesitantly, she walked over to the table set up in the middle of the room. She didn't stand next to him, but instead crossed to the other side of the table. He cleared his throat and moved to stand beside her, but she took a step back. Bass laid a hand on her arm to keep her close. "I'm not going to hurt you, Charlie," he said, trying to reassure her. He couldn't have her constantly cowering in his presence, especially once the baby arrived. What kind of example would that set for him?

"You've hurt me before." she answered with a glare.

"But I'll never do it again." Charlie narrowed her eyes and searched his face for a moment before turning back to the drawings on the table.

"What are these?" she asked, and Bass picked up a few sheets.

"They're sketches for a crib. I thought you should have some input in how the nursery is designed, considering you'll spending a good deal of time in here." Charlie turned and scanned the room. It was empty for now, all except for the table set up in the center, but it was fairly large. Bass had chosen a room exactly between his and Charlie's living quarters so they could both reach it easily.

"It's a little extravagant for a nursery, don't you think?" she said disapprovingly, and Bass narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the way she was talking to him at the moment, like she had power over him. True, he couldn't hurt her because of the baby, but that didn't mean she was invincible.

"Only the best for the future general of the Republic," he answered shortly, letting his annoyance show in his tone. Charlie shot him a sideways glare, and he knew she'd picked up on it. But of course she wasn't backing down. No, she only grew more antagonistic.

"And what if he doesn't want to be general? What if he grows up and wants nothing to do with all of this?" Bass turned to her angrily and got right in her face. Who did she think she was? No one could challenge him like that, not even her! He was the General of the whole Republic and he deserved more respect than that.

"Of course he'll want to be general," he said menacingly, "He will want to be general, because he will see what a great honor it is, how prestigious a position. And he will know that it's a great privilege because he will see how his father receives everyone's respect. Especially the respect of his mother." Bass stopped and looked meaningfully in to Charlie's eyes. "Do you understand me?"

He saw her confidence begin to waver, no doubt because he was successful in his attempt to intimidate her. Every time she tried go against him, and all he had to do was assert his authority and she would submit to him. Surely it wouldn't be long now before she accepted the fact that he was in control. and wouldn't try to oppose him in the first place. Charlie nodded and turned again to the schematics on the table.

"These are all for a boy," she noted quietly, and Bass smiled.

"Yes, I know what you're thinking, that it could be a girl. Well, even if it is, no doubt we will have a boy at some point in the future." He reached up and began twirling some of her blond locks with his fingers. "After all, you're only just about to turn twenty-one. There will be plenty of time for you to give me a son." He started to lean down and place a kiss on her forehead, but she pulled away from him and crossed to the other side of the table.

"So, have you started think about names yet? For the baby?" Bass smiled at her little attempt to change the subject, and he supposed he would indulge her a bit.

"Well, I had considered the name Samuel, after my father. He had always wanted grandchildren, but… well, it never really worked out. Until now, of course." As he talked, he made his way around to Charlie's side.

"And for a girl?" she asked, and he could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"Maybe I'll let you choose if that happens.." Now he traced his hand through her hair, down her back. She was so beautiful, he thought. If only she would stop fighting him all the time. When his hands reached the buttons of her blouse, Charlie moved away from him.

"I thought we were done with this," she said, not daring to look him in the eye. "I'm already pregnant, Bass. What more do you want from me?" Did she really think that was all this was about? For her to give him a child and that be the end of it? True, that had been Bass's main purpose for bringing her here, but he had always wanted her to stay. He wanted her to accept her new life, and her new family. He wanted them to raise their child together, not as two separate influences on his life but in a unified effort. He wanted… he wanted…

"I want you." And he closed the gap between them with a kiss.

Charlie finally sat back and rested her head against the wall. She'd been sick that evening, which was unusual because it was normally only in the mornings to early afternoons that she didn't feel well. When the vomiting started she'd called for Julia, who had come to her immediately, helped her get through the nausea. At last now it was over, and she gratefully accepted the water that Julia offered her.

"Don't worry," she said as she helped her to stand up. "Most of the nausea should pass after the first trimester."

"The what?" Charlie sat down on the couch and drew her knees up to her chest.

Julia took the chair beside her. "The first trimester. Did no one ever teach you about these things?"

"Well, my mother left when I was about ten, and my dad never really talked to me about… those kind of things. I sort of had to figure it all out for myself." Charlie remembered how difficult things had been in those first few years after her mom left. Just when she needed her the most, her mother was gone. And now the same thing was happening. She needed help to get away from Bass, but her mom was nowhere to be found. She should have seen it coming, she supposed.

"That must have been hard for you to deal with, being so young," Julia remarked, bring Charlie back to the present.

"It was, but I learned to deal with it, like I do with any tough situation. Like I'm doing right now." Julia nodded and started to make herself some tea. She offered some to Charlie, but she didn't want any. Not now, after what she'd just dealt with for the past hour.

"And how is Bass treating you now that we know you're expecting? He's not still hurting you, is he?" Charlie shook her head. It was true that he hadn't really hurt her since the announcement, but he wasn't exactly treating her well. The memories of what had happened earlier that afternoon replayed through her mind, despite all her efforts to stop it. It must have shown on her face because Julia showed immediate concern. "Charlie, don't lie to me. Tell me how he's treating you."

Charlie struggled to find the right words to explain what she was feeling without getting emotional. She refused to let herself cry right now, not here, not with Julia. "I just… I thought it would be over now that I'm pregnant. I thought Bass wouldn't…" she trailed off, unable to make herself say the words. It was just too difficult. "Anyway, apparently I was wrong."

Julia gave her a sympathetic look and started to say something, but was interrupted by a strange noise. Both woman turned towards it to find the bookshelf being pushed forward, opening up to reveal a dimly lit hallway, and two dark figures. As soon as he stepped out in to the light, Charlie couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Miles?" she whispered, still unsure if he could really be there, after all this time.

"Charlie!" he ran to her and wrapped her in a hug. As she felt his arms around her, she knew that it really was him, that he'd finally come for her. She felt a few tears glide down her cheek as she smiled and hugged him back.

"I never thought I'd see you again!" she cried in to his shoulder, her voice muffled by his shirt, but he could still understand every word she said. "I can't believe you're finally here."

"Well you'd better believe it, Charlie," Miles said, holding her even closer to himself. It was such a relief to finally have his niece here with him, safe. He never wanted that moment to end. Behind him, someone cleared their throat. Charlie looked over her uncle's shoulder, and was very surprised to see Julia just returning from a reunion of her own.

"Jason?" she asked, and he nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you away from Philadelphia, away from General Monroe." Then he turned to his mother and grabbed her hand. "Mom, you have to come with us." Julia looked shocked.

"Jason… my life is here. Your father will be home soon, and if I'm not there-"

"Once the general finds out that Charlie is gone, he's going to be looking for who's responsible. You know he'll come for you, Mom, so please just come with me." Julia sighed and glanced over at Charlie, who nodded. Jason was right, of course. Bass would kill Julia as soon as he realized she was missing.

"All right," she agreed, and they went inside the hidden passageway. Charlie held on to Miles's hand as he turned and gave the room one last glance before closing the bookcase. Then they took their torches from the walls and started walking towards the exit.

"Those were my old living quarters, you know," Miles pointed out. "Bass may have kept you prisoner for a month, but at least he gave you a nice cell." He was joking now, trying to lighten the mood a bit and Charlie appreciated it. She smiled a little back at him. She was genuinely glad to be leaving Philadelphia behind her, and all the bad memories that went with it. Finally she was leaving Bass behind once and for all.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N Aaahhh! I am so sorry this took me so long to write! Real life really caught up with me, and then I had writer's block so I am so so sorry! Anyway, I hope this chapter is good, although I know it can't make up for how long I took. Again, really sorry about that!

Charlie tried her best to keep quiet as they hurried through the dark streets of Philadelphia. They were doing everything they could to avoid the militia patrols, and Jason seemed to have their system down pretty well. He lead the way through the city like the expert that he was, followed closely by Julia, then Miles and Charlie. She was still holding on to his hand, even as they snuck through alleyways and shadowy streets. It was just so relieving to feel him next to her. He was her lifeline, her protector. He would make sure that she was safe from Bass.

At that thought, Charlie turned and looked back in the direction they had come from. Even with all the twists and turns they were making, she could still see the top of the militia headquarters Four weeks, a whole month she had spent locked up inside that building, and now that she was finally free it felt… unreal. Could this be possible? Was she actually escaping her glorified prison?

Giving Miles's hand a squeeze for reassurance, she knew that it was true. But she also knew that this freedom could be very short-lived if they weren't careful. No doubt Bass would be furious as soon as he realized she was gone, and he would work tirelessly to get her back. A shiver went down her spine as she thought of what horrors might await her if she were recaptured.

"So what's the plan?" she whispered to Miles. She needed to know where they were going, and if Bass would be able to find her there.

"Nora and your mother are waiting for us just outside the city limits. They've got some horses hitched up to a cart already, and as soon as we get there we're going to move it and get the hell out of here. There's a rebel base not too far away that we should be able to stay at."

A rebel base. Not too bad, but Charlie had the feeling that would be the first place Bass would look for her. He knew about their interaction with the rebels. It would just be too obvious. "I don't know… does the militia know about it?" she asked nervously.

"Not possible. The base is a new one, set up only a couple of weeks ago. There's no way Bass could know about it already." Charlie nodded, trying to convince herself that everything would be fine. Miles knew what he was talking about, and if he said the base was safe, then it was safe. But still, she couldn't help but feel anxious about the possibility of Bass finding her and taking her back to that living hell, maybe even taking her baby away from her.

"Just promise me one thing," she said in a very quiet voice, trying her best to hide the vulnerability she was feeling. Miles nodded and leaned down so he could hear her better. "Please, please Miles just don't let Bass find me again." Charlie saw the confusion on Miles's face, so she continued. "He's going to be furious when he realizes that he'd gone. He's going to send his best men out to bring me back and I just…" She bit her lip and looked down, trying to stop the tears from coming. Now was not the time to be getting emotional about this, not in front of Miles.

She felt his hand on her shoulder, and she lifted her face to look at him again. He had an odd look in his eyes. Sympathetic, but very curious. Charlie could tell he was noticing how emotional she was, and she silently cursed those stupid hormones. That had to be what was making her so terrified when she thought of Bass. "Don't worry," Miles said, looking her in the eye. "I won't let him get to you."

Charlie smiled a little and gave him a quick hug before going back to following Jason. They were getting close to the city limits, she could tell. They were so close to escaping. Beside her, Miles cleared his throat and slowly asked, "Charlie… what did Monroe want with you? Why would he try so hard to get you back?" Charlie felt her heart skip a beat. What was she supposed to say? That she was pregnant with Bass's child? Now didn't exactly seem like the best time to drop that bombshell, though she knew that had to happen eventually, and she was dreading that particular conversation.

"I just… he was…" How to explain this? She really wasn't sure what to say, but thankfully Jason saved her by announcing that they were finally there, his secret way out of Philadelphia. Charlie heard Miles say her name behind her, but she didn't respond. She just crawled through and stepped out in to the grass. As soon as she did, relief flooded through her. Finally, she was free from that horrible city! It felt so good to be released after all this time, and soon she would be far away from all this. Miles would never let Bass touch her again, that she was sure of.

"Charlie?" She knew that voice, even though she hadn't heard much of it in a while. Charlie turned to her left and saw her mother approaching from the horses. She was supposed to mad at her for leaving, for not taking care of Danny, but as soon as Charlie saw her face she felt like a little girl again, needing her mommy to hold her. Without her even asking, it seemed like Rachel knew exactly what her daughter wanted, and Charlie soon felt her mother's comforting arms around her. Trying to stay angry was no use now, not after all she had been through.

"I love you, Mom." she said, fighting back tears once again. Rachel let out a laugh and began stroking her daughter's hair.

"I love you more." Charlie felt her mother's tears falling on to her shoulder, and then a couple drops rolled down her own cheeks. "I'm so sorry that I left you, Charlie. I never should have done that. And I promise, you are never going to leave my sight again, no matter what you say."

"I'm okay with that," she said, smiling as she did. Then they pulled away from the hug and Rachel wiped her tears. She ran a hand down her daughter's face, and Charlie quickly pulled away. That feeling had been all too familiar, and now she was breathing heavily as she thought about all the times Bass had done a similar action. She closed her eyes, but she couldn't forget the look in his eyes when he called her beautiful, or the feel of his fingertips against her skin.

"Charlie? What's wrong, are you okay?" She let out a sigh and looked up at her mother's frantic face. No, she couldn't deal with this, not now. They needed to get away from Philly, and she needed time to think about the best way to break the news to everyone.

"I'm fine," she said as convincingly as she could, and she jumped up on the wagon, followed immediately by her mother. "Let's just go. I never want to see this city again." Miles jumped up and took the reins, getting the horses to go as quietly as they could. As they continued away from Philadelphia, Charlie could feel her mother's concerned eyes on her. Even though it would be difficult, she knew that she would have to tell them about her baby, and soon.

General Monroe was just about done with work for the day. He'd been looking over a map of the Georgia Federation for hours, planning their assaults next spring. Georgia had them outnumbered, but Bass was confident in his men's abilities and he knew that with the right strategy they could succeed. They had to succeed, and quickly. According to the doctor Charlie was due in May, and he wanted this war to be over and done with before his son arrived. That way he could focus his attentions on what was really important, the continuation of the Republic.

Bass sighed and stood up from his desk. He had all winter to perfect his plans, and it was getting late. He wanted to check in on Charlie before he went to bed himself, just to see if she and the baby were doing well. The doctor had promised to keep him informed of her condition, but he still wanted to check for himself. Plus, it gave him an excuse to see Charlie again.

He had high hopes that their relationship would improve soon. It desperately needed to if they were to raise a child together, but Bass was confident that she would realize that before the baby arrived. Until then, he was doing his best to be nice and show how much he did care for her well-being. He paused before her door. Perhaps one day, he wouldn't have to go to her room to see her. Perhaps one day they would share their living quarters.

Bass smiled at the thought of spending his evenings with Charlie at his side, reading stories to their son and teaching him about the world. Maybe they would even have more children one day. After all, it certainly couldn't hurt to have more than just one possible heir to the Republic. He could almost see it now, sitting with one son on each knee, telling them the story of how the Republic came in to being, with Charlie on the chair beside him rocking another baby. That was what he truly longed for, and he hoped that Charlie would see that.

But when Bass opened the doors and stepped inside, all of his thoughts ground to a halt. At first he didn't want to believe it. He searched all the rooms and called her name a dozen times, but it was no use. Charlie was gone. Bass yelled and threw the closest object he could find, a priceless vase, against the wall. It shattered in to a hundred pieces and he kicked over a chair.

How could she be gone? There was no way out of this room, Bass had made sure of that. So where the hell was she? "Guards!" They entered the room as soon as he called, and he looked on them with fury. Somehow, they were responsible for this. How else could Charlie have escaped? "Where is Charlie Matheson?" he demanded. They looked at each other, confused. "Well, tell me!"

"I- I don't know, sir!" Pathetic. What on earth was he paying these incompetent fools to do?

"You don't know?" he asked, a dangerous tone in his voice. Both the men turned white as a sheet, knowing how badly they had failed. "How can you not know? It was your job to guard her! You were supposed to make sure she didn't escape, and now she's gone! This is your fault!"

"I'm sorry, sir! I don't know how this could have-" The idiot was silenced when a bullet ripped through his brain. Bass pointed his gun at the other soldier, who was starting to run, but the imbecile wasn't fast enough. He took a shot right in the heart and fell dead at his general's feet. It was no loss of course. These soldiers were clearly inferior, as they had failed to protect the most important woman in the Republic.

Bass ran out from the room and called some more soldiers to him. "Put the city on lock-down!" he ordered, "And find me Charlie Matheson!"


	13. Chapter 13

"We're almost there, just a few more minutes," Miles called back to the others. Charlie looked over at the horizon and saw that the sun was beginning to rise. Had they really been traveling all night? It was for the best, she supposed. The farther away from Philadelphia they were, the harder it would be for Bass to find her. Charlie leaned back and pulled her blanket up over her shoulders. Jason had given it to her a few minutes in to the journey, and though she protested initially she was glad to have it now. Gently, she placed a hand over her stomach, but under the blanket so no one could see.

How on earth was she going to tell everyone about her baby? She'd spent the entire ride thinking about it, but still she was at a loss. Charlie knew what would happen as soon as they found out, of course. Miles would go in to a rage against Bass, probably march right up to Philly and try to murder him again, except that he would get himself killed in the process. Her mother would want her to talk about what happened, probably thinking it would help, but it wouldn't. Charlie didn't even want to think about what Bass did to her, much less talk about it with her family.

A jolt of the wagon startled her and she nearly fell over, yet she didn't. Charlie looked over and saw her mother's hand on her arm, supporting her and keeping her from falling. The look on her face was so… protective. "Thanks," Charlie said quietly and readjusted herself. It was an odd feeling, to have someone looking out for her. She'd never really had that, even when her father was still alive. He loved her of course, but Charlie was a very independent child. She had always looked after Danny, and now that someone else was doing the same for her, she wasn't sure how to respond to that.

And yet, even though it was so unfamiliar, it also felt so right. She hated to admit, but Charlie felt like she could definitely get used to someone else putting her first. But then her hand returned to her stomach, and she was reminded of the baby growing inside. Her baby, her responsibility. As much as she wanted to, Charlie couldn't give in and let her mother take care of her. She couldn't act like the child she always wanted to be. She had to grow up, because her baby needed her to be strong.

And yet, that baby was also Bass's. She had a part of him inside of her, and this was permanent. Originally, Charlie had hoped to escape and never look back, never think about what Bass had done to her again, but now that would be impossible. Now she was pregnant with his baby and nothing would ever be the same. Even if Bass never found her, he would still be there in her child. Every time Charlie looked at her baby's face, Bass would be there too. She couldn't escape him, not really.

Charlie let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She loved her baby, of course, but she also hated the fact that it was Bass's child too. She prayed to God that it wouldn't look like him, because if it did things would only be that much harder. Even now she couldn't help but remember the first time he forced her in to his bed. She felt his arms holding hers against the sheets, she heard his voice whispering her name as she tried to get away.

Charlie's eyes bolted open. No, she could not let herself think about that again. She could not relive that experience every time she closed her eyes. "Get a hold of yourself, Charlie" she whispered to herself. "You can't afford to be weak, not now." Finally they arrived at the base, and Charlie was the first one off the cart. She started to walk inside when Rachel stopped her.

"Charlie, will you please talk to me? I can tell that you're upset and I just want to help."

"I'm fine, really. I'm just… I'm glad to finally be away from Bass, that's all."

"Bass?" Rachel asked, and Charlie realized her mistake. "Since when have you called him Bass?"

Since he forced her in to his bed every night and got her pregnant with his child, but Charlie just couldn't say that right now. Thankfully, she didn't have to as Miles chose that moment to approach them.

"Hey, everything okay?" he asked, looking between the two of them. Charlie nodded. "Good. We need to talk about a few things."

"Like what?" she asked, already dreading what he was going to say.

"We need to know what Monroe wanted you for, why he kept you captive for so long without offering ransom or using you as bait. I mean, clearly he had some sort of plan for you and I'd like to know what it is."

Charlie felt herself tense up, and she bit her lip. She was not ready for this conversation yet. Not now, maybe not ever. "Miles, I just want to go inside and I want to get some sleep. Please, don't make me do this right now." She gave him a hopeful look, and his expression began to soften, but not enough.

"Charlie, I know it's the last thing you want to talk about right now, but we really need some idea of his plans so we can prepare ourselves." She sighed and looked down, but Miles placed a hand on her shoulder. Gently, he lifted her eyes to face him again. "I promised I wouldn't let Bass find you again, and I won't. But I need your help with this."

Rachel stepped in and tried to send Miles away, but Charlie held up a hand to stop her. "No, it's okay, Mom. Miles is right." She turned to him and though a moment before answering. "I don't know what all Bass is planning, he wouldn't tell me much about that. But I do know that he will stop at nothing until he gets me back."

"But why? I mean, do you know something? It doesn't make any sense. Why would Bass try hard to get you back, what does he want you for?" Charlie bit her lip and tried to stop the emotion from overcoming her. If she kept up this conversation much longer, she was certain that she would start crying.

"Just make sure he can't find us here," she whispered and hurried towards the base.

Bass looked up as the doors to his office opened. He hadn't slept at all last night, spending hours going through the city with his men. Now two of his most trusted officers were returning from their search of the surrounding area. "Did you find her?" he asked, but from the looks on their faces he could already see that they had failed.

"No, sir. Not even a single trace. It's like she just vanished in to thin air!" Bass nodded and turned toward the window. No one saw Charlie leave, and now there were no signs leading to her location. She wasn't incompetent, but there was no way she'd been able to do all of this on her own. She had help from someone who knew what they were doing, someone like Miles Matheson.

Bass felt like smashing something. He wanted to let out all his rage by tearing apart the room, but he couldn't allow himself that luxury. He had to keep calm in front of his officers, even if he didn't feel like he was in control. Now he turned to face them. They were young and loyal, awaiting their next orders. Bass used to be like them, but so many things had changed since that time.

"We can not allow Charlie Matheson to escape our grasp," he explained, walking over to his desk. He always felt better when speaking from his desk. It gave him authority, and along with it the confidence that he needed. "She's too important to the Republic. She must be recovered at all costs, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. We are ready to carry out your orders. How should we proceed with the search?" Bass looked down. What was the next step? Surely Charlie couldn't have gotten too far away. After all, she'd only just escaped that night. If there was no sign of her in the surrounding area then that meant she was in hiding, and she was hidden very well if the militia couldn't find her. With Miles involved, Bass had no doubt that Charlie was with the rebels at that very moment.

"You," he said, gesturing to one of the soldiers. "I want you to lead an extensive search for the rebels. They have to have some sort of base close by, and that's probably where she is. Your orders are to find the rebels, kill them all, and bring me back Charlie Matheson alive and unharmed. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir!" he said, and left the room to fulfill his duty.

"And what would you have me do, General?" the other officer asked. Bass sat down and returned to his thoughts. Miles would have taken her to the rebels, of course, but he had to consider the possibility that they weren't involved. If Charlie couldn't find refuge at a rebel camp, where would she go? Under normal circumstances she probably wouldn't stop running until she was as far away from Philadelphia as possible, but these weren't normal circumstances. She was pregnant, in no condition to make a trek across the country. Charlie would probably want to seek out care for her baby, and that meant a hospital or a midwife.

"Charlie might be seeking medical attention," he said to the soldier, "It's very possible that she's visited a doctor nearby. So, your orders are to search every hospital, every clinic, every medical facility in the region. I want you questioning all the doctors, even those who practice from their own homes. That includes midwives, healers, everything."

"Of course, General." The man bowed his head and left the room. Now Bass let out a deep breath and sat down. Finally he was alone, and he could stop putting on that damned mask of indifference. He pounded his fists against the table and buried his face in his arm. Bass was furious with himself for not finding Charlie, for not realizing she was gone fast enough, for even letting her escape in the first place. How did she even get out of that room, much less the city? He thought it was inescapable, but apparently he'd made some sort of mistake and now he was paying for it.

Water soaked through his sleeve, and Bass realized that he was crying. He missed Charlie. He missed seeing her face and talking with her every day. He missed placing his hand on her stomach and imagining the child within. She'd only been there for a month, and already he couldn't live without her. Bass didn't know how much longer he would be able to take this, Charlie being gone. He needed her to be at his side, even if she never really supported him. Just having her present was enough, but now he didn't even have that.

With Charlie gone Bass was truly alone, and the silence in his office only struck that point harder. Bass hated silence. It made it too easy to think, to remember the hopes that had been so real not so long ago. But those hopes could be real again, of that he was certain. His men would recover Charlie, and when they did Bass wouldn't be alone anymore. She would give him a son, and they could finally be the family they were meant to be.

A/N I know, Charlie still hasn't told them about her pregnancy, but don't worry! I promise you that it will be in the next chapter!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N This is it, you guys. The chapter you've all been waiting for! I really hope I managed to get all the emotions right, so let me know what you think of it.

Charlie cried out in pain as she felt another contraction hit. The room was poorly lit and she could hardly see at all. Only a single beam of light streamed in to the room through the window to her left, illuminating the bed but leaving everything else in darkness. Another wave of pain hit, and Charlie screamed in to the shadows. She was surrounded by darkness, the unknown was closing in around her. It was getting more and more difficult to breathe, but still she managed one last push and the cry of a baby filled her ears.

She felt someone pick up the baby and wrap it in a blanket. "It's a boy," the voice said, and Charlie froze. She leaned forward, and suddenly there was Bass stepping out of the shadows, holding her child in his arms. He smiled menacingly then turned away, taking the baby with him. Charlie screamed in protest, tried to get up and chase after him. Suddenly, he took a gun from his side and turned it on her. "We don't need you anymore," he whispered, and pulled the trigger.

"No, don't take him!" Charlie screamed and sat up in bed. The room was dark, but she could see enough to know that she was at the rebel base. Her hand drifted down to her stomach and rested there protectively. Bass hadn't taken her baby, it was still inside of her. It had all been a dream. Charlie tried to slow down her breathing and get a hold of herself. Why was this happening to her? She wanted to be strong, to not let her irrational fears get the better of her. There was no way Bass could find her here, so why was she so terrified that he would?

Charlie walked over to the dresser and changed in to some better clothes. She needed to go outside and get some fresh air, try to clear her head a bit. If she was lucky, she might even be able to figure out what her next move needed to be. When she stepped outside, Charlie pulled her sleeves as long as they would go and wrapped her arms around her body. The night air was getting to be pretty cold now that it was nearly October. It was about this time of the year that the weather would start to make traveling nearly impossible, so hopefully the militia would have a harder time trying to get to her.

Looking up at the stars, Charlie remembered how different this time had been just last year. Danny was still alive then, along with Maggie, Aaron, and her dad. They used to sit around a campfire and share stories about their lives before the blackout. Charlie used to beg Aaron to tell her about the places he'd been in all his travels, but Danny was more content to hear about home and their family. He was never one for adventure, but then he died fighting for a cause he believed in. Things really had changed completely, for everyone.

Suddenly she heard raised voices, and Charlie looked over at a group of people talking near the gate. Curious, she hurried over towards them, and approached her mother who was near the outskirts of the group. "What's going on?" she asked.

Rachel stepped away from the others and pulled her daughter aside. "Some of the patrols have returned. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I couldn't sleep," she answered, then gestured to the people beside them. "Did they find out about the militia's movements?"

Rachel started to answer, but was cut off by a loud voice calling from the center of the crowd. "All right, all right! I appreciate the information, but I need time to develop a response so would everyone please step inside and let me deal with this?" The crowd started to dissipate, and Miles lowered his hands. "Thank you," he said with a huff, then he spotted Charlie and walked over to them.

"Well?" she asked. "What news did the patrols bring back?" Miles sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which was not a good sign.

"Long story short, Monroe has practically the entire militia on a search for you. Everyone who's current role isn't vitally important is being reassigned to the manhunt. He's even sent word to pull some men from the Georgia border."

Charlie sighed. "He really wants to take the Georgia Federation. If he's pulling his forces from the border… well, he's desperate to get me back." Her voice lowered to nearly a whisper as she realized the gravity of the situation.

"There's more," Miles said, growing frustrated with the situation. "The militia is conducting a sweep of all the medical facilities in the region. Doctors are being brought in for questioning, clinics are being searched, everything." Charlie's heart skipped a beat, and she looked down. Bass was doing one hell of a job looking for her. She'd though about seeing a doctor in town, but now that would be impossible. He knew just what her weaknesses were, and it was becoming clear that he would never stop until he brought her back to him. It was a terrifying thought.

"Charlie?" Rachel asked, pulling her daughter over to her. "Why is he looking for you with doctors? Are you okay? Tell me what's wrong." Charlie shook her head and backed away. She couldn't do this, not now. She wasn't ready.

"I-I'm fine, really. I don't know why Bass is looking at medical facilities." She did her best to dismiss it all, but it was clear that neither Miles or her mother were buying it. Miles looked like he was especially frustrated.

"No, you know what's going on. You're just not telling us. People's lives are at stake, Charlie, your life is at stake! I can't protect you if I don't know what's going on here, so you have to tell me." Charlie shook her head sadly. She couldn't, she just couldn't. Miles started to raise his voice. "Damn it, Charlie! What is Bass doing? He's interrogating doctors, why is he doing that? I know you know the reason, so why is he using so many resources looking for you? Why are you so important to him?"

"Because I'm pregnant!" Charlie yelled out, and immediately bit her lip. No one spoke for a moment. Confusion filled Miles's eyes, and she just had to look away. She stared at the ground, unable to meet her mother's gaze. Now that they both knew the truth, Charlie couldn't bear to look at them, she was too worried about how they would react. Slowly she drew her arms up to cover her stomach, but she couldn't cover up the reality that she was going to have a baby, no matter how hard she tried.

"You're… you're pregnant?" Rachel asked softly. Charlie nodded, still unable to make herself look up. "Is General Monroe the father?" She let out a shaky breath, trying desperately to hold back her tears. She didn't want to be so emotional over this, especially not in front of Miles, but her eyes were getting blurry and she could feel a sob about to escape her.

"Yes," she choked out, "He is." Suddenly her mother's arms were around her, and Charlie released the cries she'd been holding back. "I'm so sorry," she said through her tears, "I tried to stop him but, I- I couldn't, he…" she trailed off, unable to make herself say the words. It was too difficult, but Miles and her mother understood perfectly.

"Shh, don't say that," Rachel whispered in to her daughter's ear, despite her own tears soaking in to her hair. "This was not your fault, don't you ever think that okay?" Charlie felt herself being pulled closer, and her arms tightened around her mother. "We're the ones who should be apologizing, Charlie. We should have gotten to you sooner, but we didn't, and I am so, so sorry."

Charlie let out a sigh. It was good to hear those words, even though she knew that they'd done the best they could. Slowly, she pulled away from her mother and started to wipe away her tears. "It wasn't your fault, Mom, really." Rachel nodded, but it was clear that she wasn't going to forgive herself that easily. Charlie glanced over in Miles's direction and saw him sitting against the wall, a state of shock on his face. "Miles?"

He looked up at her with a devastated expression. "Why? Why would he do this to you, of all people?" Charlie looked away. She couldn't tell him why Bass had chosen her to bear his child, it would only make things more difficult for him.

"I don't know," she said quietly, "All I know is he wanted an heir, to become the next general when he dies." Miles shook his head in disbelief and stood up.

"Bass never even liked kids. He didn't once mention wanting an heir when I was…" Miles looked up at the sky as he realized what caused all this. "It's because I left, isn't it? This is my fault."

"Miles," Charlie started to contradict him, but her uncle wouldn't have any of it.

"No, this is because of me. Bass didn't care about anyone else as long as he had me, and then I left him. All of this is my fault!"

"No, that's not true. It was his choice, not yours! Bass is a psychopath!"

"Bass? Charlie, you never called him that before he took you. It was always Monroe. God knows what he's put you through this past month, and it's all because of me."

Miles slid back to the ground again and buried his face in his hands. Charlie hated to see him so upset, especially when he wasn't to blame at all. Slowly, she walked over and sat down beside him, laying her arm over his shoulder. "I don't blame you, Miles."

"Tell me what he did," he said, his voice slightly muffled by his hands.

"What?" Charlie asked in shock. He lifted his face and spoke to her in an angry tone.

"Tell me what he did to you."

"Well considering I'm pregnant, I think it's pretty obvious what he did to me."

"Did he hurt you?"

Charlie bit her lip, thinking back to the first time she woke up with bruises and blood stained sheets. "Not very often," she whispered. "Only when he was drunk." Miles nodded and looked down.

"How many times did he… you know?" If anyone else had asked that, Charlie would have told them to mind their own business, but this was Miles. She knew he was trying to come to terms with the fact that his best friend had repeatedly raped his niece, and that he felt responsible for it. He deserved an honest answer.

"I don't know, I lost count. But it was practically every night." Miles stood up and began pacing the ground in front of her. He seemed to grow angrier with every step he took. Rachel had stopped crying by then, and was now sitting down beside her daughter. She started to say something, but then stopped herself. "What is it?" Charlie asked.

Rachel let out a little laugh. "I'm sorry, this is just… it's difficult to process."

"Yeah, well you can only imagine how I felt when I found out."

"And uh… when did you find out? How far along are you?"

"About four weeks. The doctor said the baby's due in May." Rachel started to respond, but suddenly Miles kicked over a piece of fence. He turned towards them, more furious now then Charlie had ever seen him.

"I swear, I'm going to kill him. As soon as I can get ready I am going to Philly and I am going to kill him for what he did." Miles started walking inside, and Charlie and Rachel shared a quick glance before following him.

"Miles, wait!" Charlie called, and he stopped walking.

"Why wait? He hurt you, Charlie, and he has to pay for what he did!"

"You couldn't kill each other last time, what if the same thing happens again? He could throw you in prison, and then we'd have to get you out."

"Oh don't worry, I can kill him. Things are different this time, it's personal.! Any man who lays a finger on you deserves death, and Bass deserves a slow and painful one."

Then Rachel put a hand on his shoulder and turned him away from her daughter. "Miles, just calm down and think about this for a minute. You can't just go charging in to Philadelphia and kill Monroe. These things take planning, preparation. You wouldn't come out of there alive, and as much as I want Monroe dead we can't do this for revenge. We have to think about Charlie first, she needs our protection now more than ever."

"But what if killing Bass is the only way to protect her? As long as she has his child, he will never stop coming after her, you know that. Keeping Charlie safe is the most important thing we can do, and killing Bass is the best way to do that."

"Yeah, but that's going to be impossible now," Charlie pointed out. "He gets paranoid when things don't go his way. If I know Bass, and I do, he's probably got an armed guard escorting him everywhere he goes, and Philly's on lock down. You'd never be able to get to him Miles and you'll just get yourself killed."

Slowly, Miles began to nod. He didn't like to admit it, but Charlie was probably right. Marching in to Philadelphia now would be a suicide mission, though he swore that even if he couldn't do it now, one day he would kill Bass for what he did. "All right then," he said, weighing their remaining options. "If we can't get Bass away from Charlie… then I guess we'll just have to get Charlie away from Bass. Pack your bags, girls. We're leaving the Monroe Republic."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N I am so sorry this took forever! Real life, you know? Anyway, hopefully things will calm down soon and I'll have more time to write. No Bass this chapter, but he'll be there next time, I promise!

"Nora, get up!" She felt a hand on her shoulder and jerked up, alert for any sign of danger, but it was only Miles. "I'm calling a private meeting in a few minutes and I want you to be there, so get ready." Then he left the room, and Nora looked out the window. The sun was only just beginning to rise, so she clearly hadn't been able to sleep long. But, she was used to operating with little rest, so this wasn't an issue.

As she got dressed, Nora began to wonder about why Miles would be calling a meeting so early in the morning. Perhaps they were going to discuss their strategy in helping the rebellion? But that was something that could wait until everyone was ready. No, if Miles had woken her up early for this then it was urgent. Hastily, she pulled her hair back and walked out the door, heading towards the mess hall. Might as well try to grab a little breakfast before Miles had them march off in to the woods or something.

Once she walked in and got her food she noticed Charlie sitting in the corner and decided to join her. "Hey, Charlie," she said gently as she set down her food and took a seat next to her.

"Oh, Nora. Hey." Charlie seemed a little distracted, and Nora wasn't sure why. Was it because she knew something about what Miles wanted to discuss? Or was this a side effect of having been Monroe's prisoner for a month? She could hardly imagine what that would do to a person's mental health, but Charlie seemed like a strong person who could handle it.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk since we brought you back," she began. "I'm so sorry we couldn't get you out sooner."

"It's okay. I know you tried your best, and at least I'm free now." Charlie smiled a bit, but Nora could still see that something was off about it. "So… thank you. For helping to rescue me."

"Oh, that. It was nothing really. Jason and Miles did most of the hard parts."

"Yeah, but you left the rebels. You spent a month looking for me, a month you could have spent fighting against the militia." Charlie paused and looked down at her food. "Why did you leave the rebels to rescue me?" she asked quietly.

Nora sighed. "Charlie, we may not be related by blood but I consider you my family. You're more family to me than even my own sister, and that means a lot to me. Yes, the rebellion against the militia is very important to me, but nothing is more important than family."

Charlie looked up at her hopefully. "Really? You consider me family?" Nora nodded, and Charlie paused to think for a moment. "So… what if you had to choose? What if it was either fight with the rebels, or stay with me? Which would you rather do?"

"Charlie, what are you talking about?"

"We're leaving," she blurted out. "Me and Miles and my mom. We're all leaving the Monroe Republic."

"But… why?"

"Because I need to get away from Bass and Miles says the only way to do that is leave the Republic, because he's not going to stop looking until he finds me. You see…" Charlie stopped and lowered her head, as if trying to prepare herself for the next words. "I'm pregnant."

Nora's eyebrows shot up and she leaned back a bit. Pregnant? How could Charlie, of all people, be pregnant? Then it dawned on her. "It was Monroe wasn't it? He did this to you." Charlie nodded, and Nora turned away, still in shock. How could he do this to her? She was practically still a child! More than twenty years younger than him! It was disgusting, even for Monroe.

"Now you know you don't have to come," Charlie said. "I understand completely if you want to stay and keep fighting because believe me, I want to and if I didn't have to leave I'd still be here. So don't feel like you're obligated to come because I still have Miles to protect me and he won't-"

"Charlie, I'm coming," Nora interrupted. Charlie sighed in relief. Clearly, she hadn't been expecting that answer, even though she'd been hoping for it.

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course I am," Nora replied, and then she drew Charlie in to a hug. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again, you understand?"

Charlie let out a little laugh and returned the hug. "Thank you," she whispered, and they left the mess hall together.

"And I swear, if you're late I will bash your little boy band face in." Miles exited the room, leaving Jason confused. He heard something behind him, and turned to see his mother had gotten up and was laughing a little bit at his joke.

"What's a boy band?" he asked, suddenly feeling very young and naïve about the world.

"Oh, don't worry about it," his mother said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, you don't really want to know." Jason leaned down and pulled on his boots, hurrying with the laces. Miles didn't really trust him, that much was obvious, and he didn't want to give him a reason to dislike him more.

"So, what do you think this meeting is about?" he asked his mother.

"Oh, I don't know," Julia answered, "Probably just figuring out what we're going to do next." Jason nodded, and found his thoughts drifting to his father. Did he know that they had left yet, or was he still on assignment in Virginia? It made him feel a little guilty to think about his father's face when he realizes his family is gone. Surely, he'll be coming after his wife, even if he cared nothing for Jason. He needed to find some place where they could be completely safe, where his father would never find them.

Jason stood up and walked with his mother through the halls. Perhaps he could bring it up at the meeting. Of course, he would hate to leave Charlie after all they went through to get her back. But what was more important? The safety of his mother, or getting to be around Charlie? He hated to admit it, but it was difficult for him to decide.

As they stepped inside the door, Jason noticed the lack of people attending this meeting. The room was practically empty, as only Miles and Rachel were waiting. Jason and Julia took a seat, and Charlie entered with Nora a few moments later. Miles then stood up and began to speak. "All right, so I called you all here because we have a decision to make regarding how we plan to protect Charlie from Bass." He exchanged a glance with her before continuing. "First of all, you need to know all the information here, so… well, Charlie is pregnant. With Monroe's child."

Suddenly, Jason felt all his breathe leave him. She was… what? He looked around the room in shock, but he seemed to be the only one truly affected by this. Then he looked to Charlie, who he found was staring right back at him. He tried to portray all his questions through his eyes. How could this have happened? What did Monroe do to you? Why didn't you tell me? All he got in response was an apologetic look, like she felt guilty over something.

"Did he force you?" he heard himself ask. He didn't care that others were in the room, he didn't even think about it. Right then, it was only between him and Charlie. Slowly she gave a nod, and he felt anger rise up inside him. He thought he hated the general before, but now that hatred was doubled.

"Bass is desperate to get her back, and for obvious reasons we can't let that happen," Miles continued, "So it's clear that the only way Charlie is going to be safe is if we leave the Monroe Republic."

"Leave?" Julia spoke up beside him. "But… where could we go?"

"Well, there are several choices, but the closest ones are the Plains Nation and the Georgia Federation. Personally, I'm leaning towards Georgia."

Nora laughed from the other side of the room. "Yeah, I'm sure President Foster will be so overjoyed to see you again that she'll start a war with Monroe before she lets him get to you."

"Well I didn't say we were going to Atlanta," he snapped back quickly. "We'd want to keep as low of a profile as we can. Probably find an abandoned farmhouse or something we could stay at until Charlie has the baby."

"Yeah, which won't be until May," Rachel pointed out. "Who knows what the militia could do between now and then. Hell, he could take over the entire Georgia Federation in that amount of time, what then?"

Miles seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking his head. "No, there's just no way. Georgia outnumbers Monroe by a landslide, he'd be overpowered before he could hit them hard enough for it to hurt. Plus, he can't fight in the winter. The weather makes roads impassable, and you can't fight a war without being able to transport your troops. Monroe would have to wait until at least the middle of March before he could make the first strike, and it would be impossible to win in that short amount of time, if he could even win at all."

"Yeah, but Bass seemed hell-bent on taking over Georgia when I last saw him," Charlie said from the opposite side of the room. "He said the Georgia would be his by summer, and Bass is a lot of things but he isn't stupid. If he says he can win the war by summer, then he must have some sort of plan to do that."

Jason hung his head, deep in thought. It was still difficult for him to process that Charlie was pregnant, but he was doing his best to keep up with the conversation. As far as he could tell, it seemed like Georgia was becoming less and less the obvious choice. "What about the Plains Nation?" he asked. "The general isn't determined to invade them."

Miles tilted his head in his direction. "Yeah, I'll give you that, but if Monroe ever finds out that's where we went he'll have no problem getting to us. The Plains Nation is weak. Their west border is barely holding up against constant attacks from California. If Monroe chose to attack from the east, he could take over the whole country without even breaking a sweat, and then he'd definitely find us. At least Georgia is capable of holding back Monroe. Believe me, that's where it will be the hardest for Bass to get to us."

"Georgia it is then," Charlie said and stood up at the table. "So, who's going?" Miles, Rachel, and Nora all raised their hands, which was to be expected of course. "Jason?" she asked, looking in his direction. "Are you both coming, too?"

Jason looked down at his hands. He wanted to go with Charlie more than anything, to protect her against the general so he could never hurt her again, but he couldn't just think about what he wanted. He had to do what was best for his family, for his mother. He looked over in her direction and saw confusion on her face. She seemed torn, just like he was.

On the one hand, going to Georgia with them would be dangerous. They would have to cover a lot of ground that belonged to the militia before they left the Republic, and who was to say they could even survive in Georgia? Winter was coming, and they had to eat somehow. Plus, Monroe's men would be searching for Charlie specifically, and staying with her would put a bigger target on their backs.

On the other hand, what would happen if they stayed in the Republic? Jason's father would surely come looking for them and it would be a lot harder to get to them if they were in Georgia. So yes, he had made his decision.

"Yeah," he said, taking his mother's hand. "We'll go with you."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N Sorry this took a little longer than expected, but my computer decided to go and break on me. Thankfully I have a new laptop now and I was able to get this chapter up. I hope you like it!

Bass slammed his fist against the map on the table. Even with the majority of his forces searching for Charlie there had still been no sign of her. He glanced over at the nearest clock and cursed the time. It had now been over three days since she disappeared, and she could be miles away at this point. He sighed and sat back down at his desk. How could this have happened? He thought he had been so careful with Charlie's security. What could he have missed?

He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took a long swig from it, the alcohol burning as it made its way down his throat. It hurt, but Bass kept drinking. He needed to dull the pain of losing Charlie, of losing his baby. Finally he got close to the end of the bottle, but it wasn't helping. Every time he took a drink he thought of her, and every time he closed his eyes he thought of his child. The sound of laughter filled his ears and he saw those bright blue eyes staring up at him lovingly.

Suddenly he threw the bottle against the wall. Alcohol wasn't helping, he was still haunted by the image of his son. Bass ran a hand through his hair and began to pace the room. He didn't want to lose control over himself, but he couldn't stand this overwhelming sense of fear. Fear that he wouldn't be able to bring Charlie back, fear that his child would be born in the wilderness and grow up without him, no doubt being taught by Miles to hate the name Monroe.

How dare they take his child from him? What right did they have to steal the baby away? Charlie never would have gotten pregnant if he hadn't taken her. She didn't want to have a baby, he did. So why should she be the one to decide where it's born, who it loves. That child was as much Bass's as it was hers, and he would be damned if he let her steal it away.

There was a knock on the door, and Bass quickly pulled himself together and sat down. He couldn't let anyone see him in such a state as that, especially not one of his officers. "Come in," he called, and the doors opened. "Ah, Tom. It's good to see you again."

"And it's good to be back, sir. Though things seem to be a little more busy than when I left."

"Yes, an important prisoner escaped a few days ago and it's critical that she be recovered."

"I heard, Charlie Matheson. I'm terribly sorry she hasn't been found yet."

Bass nodded and stood up, making his way around the table. As much as he liked sitting in a position of power, he much preferred to have conversations face to face instead of across a desk. "How was your assignment in Virginia?"

"It went very well, sir, though I can't say I'm not happy to be home. It's been far too long since I've seen Julia."

Bass turned quickly, surprised by Tom's words. "Then you don't know?"

Tom's face fell immediately. "Know what? Has something happened to her?"

"Yes. She disappeared the day Charlie Matheson did. I assume she assisted her in the escape."

Tom was in a complete state of shock, that much was obvious from his face. Bass could tell that he really had no knowledge of that fact, which meant he had nothing to do with it. "Sir... I don't understand. My wife and I have always been loyal to you, she never would have-"

"Don't worry, Tom," he said, silencing the other man with a raised hand. "I'm not questioning your loyalty as well, you've proven yourself to me enough. It's only Mrs. Neville that I'm concerned about."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Tom stumbled over his words, still in shock over the whole situation. "But... perhaps there is some other explanation. Maybe she was taken against her will, or she could have gone with her to find her location and then tell us where she is."

"Both are distinct possibilities, Tom. But we can't know the truth until she is recovered, so until then we must treat her as a potential threat." He nodded, just thankful that the general was being reasonable about this and not having him executed for treason.

"General, if I could make a request, I'd like to be placed on one of the teams searching for the fugitives, to help ensure they're brought in alive."

"I was hoping you would say that, Major Neville." Bass said with a small smile. Since his wife was with Charlie, that gave him a personal motivation to find their location, and most times that made the major even more efficient in his work. "You'll be overseeing the entire endeavor. Use as many resources as you deem necessary, but I want Charlie brought back alive, along with everyone else who's helping her."

Tom gave a short bow and started to leave the room, but Bass stopped him. "Wait, Major Neville?" He turned and walked back to the desk. "There's something else you need to know, something that's very important you take in to account."

"What is it, sir?"

Bass took a deep breath before answering. "It's about Charlie. She is not to be harmed in any way, and you need to take special care with her. She's... well, she's pregnant." Tom's eyebrows shot up, but he soon recovered from the initial surprise.

"I see. I take it you're going to be a father?" Bass nodded. "Well then, I suppose congratulations are in order. I'll do everything in my power to ensure Charlie is returned before the birth. After all, I know what it feels like to lose your child."

Charlie laid out on the ground as flat as she could, trying to keep silent. On the other side of the hill she heard marching feet and the sounds of militia soldiers on the move. They'd barely been able to make it off the road in time, and if they weren't careful they could easily be discovered. Charlie sent a worried glance to her mother, who looked back apologetically. Neither she nor Miles had wanted to take the road, but her mother insisted. She said it would be the easiest way for her to travel with her condition, but now it was clear that it was too dangerous.

When they finally passed and were a safe distance away, Charlie jumped up from her place in the grass. Unfortunately she still wasn't used to everything that came with being pregnant, and the quick movements made her nauseas. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked, but she couldn't talk. She just shook her head and quickly ducked behind a tree to empty her stomach of its contents.

She sighed and let out a moan, and her mother came over to her. "I hate this," she said, completely tired of having to deal with this sickness. "Why can't I keep anything down?"

"Because you're pregnant," she answered simply. "But don't worry, the nausea will pass in a few more weeks." A few weeks? Charlie didn't think she could stand more than another day of this, much less a few weeks. She placed her hands on her knees, still feeling a little light-headed, but instantly stood up when she saw Miles and the others approaching from the other side of the road. She still felt like crap, but there was no way she going to let anyone see that.

"You okay?" Miles asked, and she nodded, unsure if she would be able to talk very well. "Well, I think it's safe to say that we won't be taking the road anymore. Monroe has too many men out looking for us."

"Then how do you suggest we get to Georgia?" Rachel asked.

"Through the woods," he answered, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, but of course Rachel had objections.

"Are you kidding? How do you expect Charlie to make it walking miles a day through that sort of terrain?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Look, I think I can speak for myself in this situation, and you don't have to worry. I'll be fine, Mom."

"But, Charlie... you're pregnant."

"Yeah, you really don't have to remind me of that. Believe me, I know. And just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm an invalid. I know you're worried about me, but just trust me on this, okay? I can handle it."

Rachel looked back and forth between Miles and her daughter. She knew that they were right, that they had to get off the roads, but it was still hard not to be concerned about her daughter's safety. Still, she knew that nothing she could say would stop them from doing what they wanted, so she gave her consent.

Miles and Nora leaned over the map and began planning a route across the Republic, and Rachel took Charlie aside from the rest of the group. "Charlie, are you sure you can do this?"

"Mom, I'll be okay. It's just a little bit of hiking, I used to do a lot more than this."

"I know, but this isn't like before. You have to be careful not to strain yourself too much."

Charlie narrowed her eyes. "Why are you so against this?" she asked. She could understand her mother wanting to be protective, but this seemed to be going a little far. Rachel took a deep breath and looked away, blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I just don't want anything to happen to the baby," she answered quietly, and Charlie layed a hand on her arm.

"Hey, don't get upset." She tried to look her mother in the eye, but Rachel kept glancing away. "What's wrong? You can tell me."

Rachel let out a quick breath and finally looked at her daughter. "About two years before you were born, when I was just a little bit older than you... well, your father and I had just gotten married and I found out I was pregnant."

She looked up at the sky and laughed a little. "I was so excited, we both were. A few months passed and... well, I really didn't know what I was doing. Both my mother and your father's had already passed away and we were on our own. We were both working so hard just to make ends meet and to pay off our student loans, and I thought I could handle it but... I couldn't. I had an accident and we lost the baby."

Charlie couldn't think of what to say. The fact that she had another sibling she never got to meet was one thing, and then to think that if she wasn't careful she could lose her own baby? It was a lot to take in. Rachel placed a hand on her daughter's cheek and smiled. "So now you know why I'm being so protective. I just want to keep you from going through what I did, and I want my grandchild to be safe. So will you promise not to push yourself too far?"

Charlie nodded and wrapped her mother in a hug. "I'll be careful, I promise." Rachel hugged her back, and then they both pulled away. She wiped a couple tears from her eyes and Charlie gave her an encouraging smile.

"So, since you're going to be a grandmother I guess we should start talking about what you want to be called. How about Nana?" Rachel laughed and they started walking back to the others.

"Please, anything but Nana. How about just Grandma?" Charlie nodded and took her mother's hand.

"I think that's perfect."


	17. Chapter 17

A/N Well, here's chapter seventeen. I'm actually pretty happy with the way this one turned out, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Miles peeked out from behind a tree and scoped out the land in front of him. They'd been traveling for over a week and a half, struggling to avoid the militia and keep up their food supply the entire time, and now they had finally arrived at the Georgia border. He was worried about what they would find, so he had made the others stay behind while he scouted ahead. As he looked out toward the border, his heart began to sink.

As quietly as he could, he turned and walked back to their hidden campsite. With what he had overheard at the militia camp, plus what he had just seen, it was clear that getting in to Georgia would be no easy task. Carefully, he glanced around to make sure no one could see him before ducking behind some overgrowth in to a cave. It was difficult to see in the flickering light of a small fire, but the click of a gun told him enough.

"Don't worry, it's me." Jason retracted his pistol and gestured back towards the others.

"So, how bad is it?" the boy asked. Miles narrowed his eyes. Despite all that Jason had done to help them, he still found it difficult to trust him. His father was Tom Neville for crying out loud, and that man always looks out for himself. Who's to say his son wouldn't sell them out if he had the chance?

"It's pretty bad," he answered, and turned away. The only reason he was even tolerating Jason's presence was because Charlie wanted him to. Apparently he was a friend who only wanted to help. But just because he tolerated him didn't mean he had to like him or try to be friendly. Now he turned to more pressing matters at hand, how to get in to Georgia. "Well, I'm back." he said. Everyone around the campfire turned to look at him, and he sat down next to Nora.

"And?" she asked, handing him a portion of their dinner, some rabbits they'd managed to snare. He took a bite before answering her.

"If you thought the roads were bad, this is worse. Monroe has the militia patrolling the border. Squads of six men each just keep going back and forth along the fence, and they cover practically the entire area."

Nora gave him a confused look. "Really? I can't imagine the Georgia Federation allowing something like that to go on."

"Oh, they're not. I heard some of the soldiers talking earlier about it. Georgia is patrolling their side of the border as well, and I don't blame them with all of the militia activity being so close. Apparently they have orders to shoot anyone on sight if they cross over."

"Great," Charlie said sarcastically, rising from her place on the floor. "So now not only do we have the militia on our backs, but we have to deal with Georgia trying to kill us? This is just perfect!"

Everyone was silent as the gravity of the situation sank in. If they stayed in the Monroe Republic, they would almost certainly be found and executed, Charlie taken back to live as Monroe's slave. But if they tried to cross over in to Georgia, they could very easily lose their lives. It wouldn't be an easy choice to make, and the outcome could mean their deaths.

"So what do we do?" Charlie asked, directing her question at Miles. He looked around at the others for help, but they were all turning to him as well. Damn it, this was what he didn't like about being a leader. Everyone looks to you to make the decisions, and if you screw up it's all on you. Charlie, Nora, Rachel, they all trusted him, and it was at times like this, facing death at every turn, that he found it hard to trust himself.

Miles shook his head and looked up at his niece. She seemed so hopeful, so sure that he would know the right thing to do, and he didn't want to let her down. "We can't stay here," he said with as much confidence as he could muster. "Somehow, we have to get across that fence without being detected."

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that without getting us all killed?" Jason asked, stepping closer to the fire. Miles shot him a look telling him to shut up.

"Well, clearly we're going to have to find a gap in the patrols and take advantage of it." It sounded like such a simple plan, but Miles knew from experience that these types of things were easier said than done. It would take a lot of patience, stealth, and just plain luck to see this through. Nora nodded and went over with Jason to talk about scouting out the border a little more to look for patterns in their movements.

"Hey," Miles turned and saw Charlie standing over him. "This seat taken? He shook his head and she sat down beside him. He glanced over at her, intending to ask how she was feeling, but instead something caught his eye. She had her hand placed over her stomach as she adjusted herself. Suddenly he had an uncomfortable feeling, and he just had to look away. "Miles, are you okay?"

No, he wasn't okay. How could he be okay? His niece was pregnant, and not just the stupid mistake kind of pregnant, but the she was violated type of pregnant. And not only that, but it was his best friend who was the father. "Please talk to me, Miles. You've been avoiding me ever since I told you I was having a baby. What's going on?"

"I just..." It was always hard for him to talk about what he was feeling, even before the blackout. The only person he really opened up to was Bass, and just look how that turned out. Still, Charlie deserved some sort of explanation for his silence. "It's hard, being around you. When you're not here, I don't have to think about, you know? I can act like everything is fine, like we're trying to get to Georgia strictly for our own protection and not because..."

Charlie looked down at her stomach again. "And not because I'm pregnant with Bass's child." Slowly, he nodded. She took a deep breath and raised her head. "It's all right, I understand. I'll just leave you alone then."

"Wait, Charlie." She started to get up, but Miles stopped her by placing a hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to... look, I'm sorry. I haven't exactly been handling this very well, but I don't want you thinking I don't want to be around you. You're my niece, I'll love you no matter what." At that she gave him a small smile, and he continued. "But that's what's so hard about it. I care about you, Charlie, but I also care about Bass and... every time I think about what he did to you I just can't help feeling like it's my fault somehow."

Charlie started to object, but he cut her off before she could finish her sentence. "No, just listen to me. If I hadn't gone along with Bass, if I had stopped him before things got bad then none of this would have happened."

"You don't know that for sure," she replied, "And even if you did it wouldn't matter. You can't go back and change the past, what's done is done."

"I know." He leaned forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. "No matter how much I want to, I can't change what Bass did to you, but I promise I will do everything in my power to keep him from getting to you again." Charlie moved forward and hugged him tightly, and he returned it. Then Nora and Jason returned from the other side of the fire and he pulled away. "Yeah?"

"It's time for us to go."

Rachel squinted her eyes and looked out across the field. In the moonlight she could barely make out a barbed wire fence surrounded by nothing but grass. Nora and Jason had watched them for a few hours and determined that one every thirty minutes, a small three minute gap opened up in this stretch of the border. Already they had been sitting here for hours, using the time to cut a hole in the fence, and now the first group was going through.

Three minutes wasn't enough time to get everyone over the border at once, so they had organized themselves in to groups of two. Jason and Julia were going through first, just to make sure all was clear on the other side before Miles came through with Charlie. Then Nora and Rachel would be bringing up the rear. Everyone held their breath as the two hurried across the field and under the fence, praying they wouldn't be seen or heard. By the time the next patrol came around, both Jason and his mother were safely hidden on the other side.

Rachel sat back against a tree and let out a deep breath, checked her gun. One more half hour of silence ahead of them, and then another after that. She'd been feeling the urge to close her eyes and rest for a while now, but she couldn't give in. If she did, she knew she would fall asleep and now was not the time for that. She glanced over at Charlie and started thinking about her daughter.

Charlie had been through so much in these past several weeks, but apart from crying a little when she first announced her pregnancy, she really hadn't seemed that upset. Rachel wasn't sure what to think about that. Was it a good thing? Had she accepted what happened to her and moved on? It was certainly possible. Charlie was a very strong girl, and she seemed to analyze things based on reality over emotion. But then again, she had been through a lot, and she was still practically a little girl. Was her daughter suffering and not telling anyone? That was also very possible. If only she could somehow tell... but she couldn't.

Maybe if she hadn't left all those years ago things would be different. Maybe she would be able to read her daughter like a book, but for now she felt like she was staring at empty pages. She hardly knew Charlie, and it pained her to realize how useless she was in this situation.

The time passed quickly, and before long Miles and Charlie were hurrying across the field, under the fence. Rachel watched anxiously, wishing she could be out there too but knowing that Miles would be far better protection for her daughter if any danger were to emerge. Miles crawled out on the other side, and Charlie began to wiggle underneath the barbed wire. Suddenly, Rachel saw a Georgia patrol coming along. What were they doing there? It was too early for them to be along!

They saw Miles immediately, and yelled out for him to stop. They raised their guns, and Miles ducked down to the grass, firing back at them with his pistol. Rachel and Nora exchanged a look and began running towards them. No use in hiding now, the gunfire would surely bring every soldier in the area.

Charlie rolled out from under the fence and began firing as well, and Jason came out from the woods to help. Rachel threw herself on the ground and scrambled across the border, desperate to get to her daughter and see if she was okay. Just as she did, some militia soldier came running, and Nora shot at them, killing a few.

"Are you all right?" Rachel asked Charlie, and she nodded. Miles took out the last of that squad, and stood up to help the two of them. Nora was on this side of the fence now, and running for the cover of the forest. Everything was happening so fast, Rachel was having hard time processing it. More soldier showed up, there was more shooting. Jason yelled out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Jason!" Charlie shouted, and began running to him. Miles helped Nora off the ground and they kept firing against the soldiers. Rachel looked around, trying to figure out where to go or what to do. Suddenly she saw one of the fallen men from Georgia reaching for his gun. He was close to Charlie, who was now leaning over Jason and applying pressure to his wound.

Rachel shouted for her daughter, but there was so much gunfire she couldn't hear. She jumped up and started running, despite the bullets flying through the air. All she knew was that Charlie was in trouble, and she had to stop it. The soldier gripped the gun in his hands now, and he was pointing it at Charlie's head, but she was so preoccupied she didn't see.

"No!" Rachel shouted, and she jumped in front of her daughter. The gun fired, and Rachel felt the impact against her ribcage, followed by an excrutiating pain. She felt herself falling, and heard someone calling her name before her head hit the ground, and the world faded away.


	18. Chapter 18

Charlie glanced around the woods for any sign of Georgia soldiers. Already they had run in to two squads of men, but Nora's excellent scouting ahead had given them the time they needed to hide. Sunlight was beginning to show on the tops of the trees, and Charlie knew they needed to stop soon. Not only because it was morning and they couldn't be seen, but also because of Jason and her mother. Jason was managing to keep up with the rest of them, barely. The bullet ripped right through his shoulder and didn't hit any major arteries. Luckily they'd been able to stop the bleeding, so even though it hurt him he was able to walk.

Rachel on the other hand was in terrible shape. She hadn't regained consciousness all night, and Miles was having to carry her in his arms. That damn soldier had shot her right in her side, probably shattering a rib or two. Plus, the bullet was still inside of her, and there was no telling how much damage it had done. Charlie wasn't familiar with all of your internal organs, but she knew that you rarely survived a shot like that.

Up ahead, Miles called for them to stop and he layed Rachel on the grass, himself collapsing against a tree. No doubt his arms were sore from carrying her all this way. Charlie hurried over to them and dropped to her knees, opening up her mother's shirt to look at the wound. When she did, she felt sick to her stomach. The bleeding had definitely slowed, but it was still not a pretty sight, and she didn't even want to know what it looked like on the inside.

Charlie looked up at Miles in desperation, hoping he would know something more about this than she did. "Miles? What are we going to do?"

He was still breathing heavily from their trek through the woods, but her rolled his head over towards her. "I don't know. She needs... we need to get that bullet out somehow, and we need to stitch up whatever damage it did."

"And do you know how to do that?"

Miles shook his head doubtfully. "It's surgery, Charlie. Do I seem like the doctor type to you?"

Charlie sighed and looked back down at her mother's pale form. She looked so weak, so close to being gone, but she could still feel a pulse indicating she was alive, however faint it might be. That meant there was still a chance. "We can't just give up on her," she said with conviction, "You were in the marines, right? You must have had some sort of basic medical training!"

"Yeah, first aid! That's a far cry from being able to perform surgery."

"I know, but we have to try! She'll die for sure if we just sit back and don't do anything."

Miles placed a hand over his face and looked up at the sky. After a moment he looked back over at his niece. "Okay. I'll do the best I can, but just know that... she probably won't survive this."

Charlie nodded. "I know, but at least we'll be giving her a chance." Just then, Nora came running up from where she had been scouting up ahead.

"There's a town just over that ridge, pretty big too. We might could pick up some supplies, listen for any good places to camp out."

Miles pushed himself off the ground with a grunt, still feeling incredibly sore from the night's events. "Good, there are some things I need to get. We're going to try to save Rachel."

Nora nodded. "I figured you would say that." As she began to hide her weapons on herself, Miles turned back to Charlie and handed her a gun.

"Stay hidden, but if anyone tries to hurt you while we're gone, you shoot them and then run. Do you understand me?" Charlie nodded, and Miles gave her a quick hug goodbye. "I'll be back in an hour, two tops."

As he and Nora left, Charlie sank back down to her knees and looked at her mother's still form. Just yesterday it seemed like things were going really well between them, like they could finally be a mother and daughter again. She should have known better. Nothing ever works out for her, and as soon as something good happens, it's gone. Look at Danny, just when they got him back from Monroe he was killed. This was the same thing happening all over again.

Charlie felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Julia standing above her. "Hey," she whispered, and Julia sat beside her.

"We haven't really had the opportunity to speak with each other in a while."

"Yeah... we've all been pretty busy." Charlie said, looking back down at her mother, and Julia could see how worried she was.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Charlie sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Did she want to? It certainly couldn't hurt, and she had no problems talking with Julia before, when she was with Bass.

"She took a bullet for me," Charlie said, then paused, not sure how to elaborate. "She must have known she wouldn't survive that, but she did it anyway."

"She's your mother. That's what mothers do, they sacrifice everything for their children." Julia gestured to Charlie's stomach. "I think you understand that now." Charlie placed a hand over her abdomen and thought about the baby growing inside of her. She was six weeks pregnant now, and yes she would do anything for her child. Just the fact that she was in Georgia now should prove that.

"I do understand," she whispered. "And I'm so thankful to her for doing that, because if she hadn't... I could have died, or lost the baby at least. I just... I just don't want her to die. I need her." Julia wrapped her arm around Charlie's shoulder, and Charlie reached down and held Rachel's hand. "Please don't die, Mom," she whispered. "Please don't die."

"There," Nora said, pointing to a store across the street. "Gates Apothecary. That should have all we need." Miles looked over and nodded.

"Right. Except there's just one problem. We don't have any money."

Nora rolled her eyes. "And since when has that ever stopped us? You go in the front and distract the storeowners and I'll sneak in to the back room, take what we need."

"Wait, why do I have to be the distraction?"

"Does it matter?" Miles looked around for a minute, like he was trying to decide how to answer. He simply shook his head. "Okay then." Nora said, and turned to leave, but Miles stopped her.

"Wait, Nora. Just remember what we need okay?"

"Surgical equipment, disinfectant, and as many antibiotics as I can get. Don't worry, I'll remember."

"All right, all right. I'll buy you as much time as I can." He answered, and walked inside the building. Nora turned and walked as casually as she could down the street beside it, no need to make a scene. When she reached the backdoor she found it was locked, but nothing she couldn't handle. With a little bit of work the door swung wide open and she stepped inside, closing it as quietly as she could behind her.

The room was dimly lit, just a couple of lanterns on a table in the center, but Nora could see well enough to know that this was no pre-blackout pharmacy. Most of the medicines back here were herbal, but she did find one cabinet with a few bottles of penicillin. Nora could hear the muffled voices of Miles and some woman making small talk, and she knew she didn't have much time. As quickly as she could, she grabbed whatever tools she thought could be useful in a surgery and a bottle of alcohol for disinfectant. She was just about to turn and leave when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

There were just two or three bottles, and they were sitting on a high shelf. Pre-natal vitamins. Nora was no stranger to pregnancy. She knew several women who never took any sort of medicine while they were pregnant, because it was so scarce after the blackout, and most of them were fine. But then again, she had experienced her own pregnancy that ended in a miscarraige. Maybe if she had tried harder, that wouldn't have happened. And with all the stress they had been through lately, it certainly couldn't hurt for Charlie to have these.

Nora set down her bag of medicine and carefully climbed up on the counter, keeping an ear out for anyone who might come in on her. When she was satisfied that Miles was still keeping the woman occupied, she focused on reaching those pills. It took a couple of minutes because of trying to be silent, but she finally reached them and put the bottles in her bag with the others. As she turned to climb back down, Nora suddenly lost her balance, and before she could stop herself she fell to the ground with a loud thud.

She didn't cry despite the pain, but she could tell it was loud. Quickly she jumped up and ran for the door, but it was suddenly blocked by a tall middle-aged man. "What are you doing stealing from my store?" He ripped the bag from her arm and pushed her to the floor. "I ought to have you hanged for this!" Still on the floor, Nora tried to grasp the bag, but it was no use. He kicked her down again, and the door to the store burst open.

"Peter, stop it!" The lady from earlier walked over to him and grabbed the bag, while Miles helped her up. She glanced around, looking for a quick escape but knowing she couldn't leave without that medicine.

The man, Peter, took a gun and held it towards them, making both Miles and Nora back up against a wall. "They were trying to steal from us!" he said to his wife, who was going through the bag and pulling out the different items.

"Penicillin, alcohol, a scalpel... what do you need these for?" She was pointing the question towards Nora, who thought for a moment before answering.

"Please, we have a friend who's hurt. She needs those things." Miles shot her a look, but Nora ignored it. This woman seemed a lot more understanding than her husband, and she had the feeling that she could help them. Then the woman took out he vitamins, and looked at Nora with more concern.

"Are you pregnant?" Nora shook her head, and Miles spoke up beside her.

"It's for my niece. Please, we'll find some way to pay you back, just let us have those things. Her mom is about to die, she needs surgery."

The man and woman exchanged a glance, and he lifted his gun again. "Bullet wound?" he asked threateningly. Nora wasn't sure how to answer, because she wasn't sure how they would react. In the end she decided the truth was the best way to go.

"Yes, in her side." Peter released the safety on his gun, and looked back at his wife.

"They're the ones, the people the army's looking for. They're the ones who fought their way across the border, the spies!"

"No, please!" Nora objected. "We're not spies, and we didn't mean for anyone to get hurt." She looked back at the woman, who still hadn't spoken. "Please, we were just trying to get out of the Monroe Republic."

"She's lying, Annabelle." Peter said. "We should turn them over to the military."

The woman, Annabelle, seemed deep in thought. She looked at Peter, then at Nora, then back to Peter. Nora felt her heart racing as her fate was being decided by a stranger she'd never met. Finally she spoke. "I believe her."

Nora let out a sigh of relief, and she grabbed Miles's hand for reassurance. Peter was outraged of course, but his wife stopped him. "I believe her, and I'm going to help with her friend." She picked up a few more things and added them to the bag. Then she turned to Miles and Nora and gestured to the door. "I was a doctor before the blackout, and if your friend needs surgery I can help. Just lead the way."

"Thank you," Nora said, and led them out the back door.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N I am SO SORRY. I know, it's been over a week since my last chapter. Writer's block and a busy schedule are my excuses, but I know it's not enough. I'm so sorry! I think I'm going to do a time jump in the next chapter because this is getting really long and I need to get closer to the end so I can finish it. Again, incredibly sorry for the wait.

Charlie let out a deep breath and sat down against a tree. Mrs. Gates had been working on her mother for hours, and she'd spent that time going back and forth between pacing and sitting. The waiting was excruciating. Not knowing what was going on, hoping everything would work out. Charlie wasn't even sure if this woman could be trusted, but she was their only hope at the moment.

Miles stood to her right, never taking his eyes off the woman's husband. It was clear he didn't trust him, just as it was clear the man would rather be anywhere but here. After another long and excruciating hour, Mrs. Gated finally returned from the surgery. Charlie jumped up as soon as she saw her coming, anxious for any sort of news. "How is she?" she asked.

"Well, I think she's going to live." Charlie smiled and Miles hugged her from the side. This was just what she'd been wanting to hear, but so afraid she never would. "But she's not out of the woods yet. She needs time to recover from her injuries, a lot of time. And constant supervision to make sure she's not getting an infection."

Charlie nodded. "But she's going to be okay, right? I mean, she's not going to die?" Her voice was full of hope and excitement. She was just so relieved that her mother was going to survive.

"Yes, she'll be all right." The other woman smiled, and Charlie felt her heart soar. It was strange, just a few months ago she had assumed her mother was dead. She'd even come to accept that and be okay with it, but now that she had her back just the possibility of losing her sent Charlie in to a panic. It was amazing how quickly she'd become attached to her, even though they hadn't seen each other in years. But, Rachel was her mother. They were family, of course they cared about each other.

"Can I see her now?" Charlie asked, starting to move to the edge of camp. Mrs. Gates stopped her.

"No, she's still unconscious and I don't want to risk her waking up. It would be too painful for her." Charlie nodded, knowing that she was right but still not liking it one bit. She glanced over at her uncle. Miles seemed relieved that Rachel was going to make it, but also a bit worried. He stood up and went over to the doctor.

"So how long will she need to recover from this?"

She sighed and thought for a moment. "Eight weeks, if not more. This was a serious injury, it will take time for everything to heal." Miles shook his head, clearly not happy about that. "Do you have anywhere you can stay nearby?"

"No, we've never been to the Georgia Federation before. I'm not even entirely sure where we are right now."

She looked over at her husband with pleading eyes, and he immediately shook his head. "No... no we can't let them stay with us."

"Why not? They need our help, and you know we could use them around the farm."

"We don't even know them. What makes you think we can trust them?"

Mrs. Gates glanced back and made eye contact with Miles and Nora. Then she pulled Peter off to the side. "They seem like good people, Peter. I don't know why they came here to the Georgia Federation, but can you blame them? With all we're heard about the Monroe Republic, I don't know why more people aren't crossing the border."

They continued to argue, but Charlie stopped listening and walked over to Jason. Mrs. Gates had checked on him right before starting surgery on Rachel, and she was curious how he was going to be. "Hey," she said, and he looked up and smiled. She gestured to his shoulder. "What did the doctor say about your arm?"

"Oh that? It's nothing really. I'll have to wear a sling for a little while, but it didn't get infected or anything so I'll be fine." He glanced down at her stomach. "What about you? How are you feeling?"

"Tired." She answered, smiling and placing a hand over her still flat, but not for long, stomach. "Really, really tired."

"Well, you are creating another human being. That's a lot of work, you should be tired." He laughed a bit, and Charlie smiled back. They stood like that for another few seconds, neither one sure entirely what to say. Charlie noticed his eyes drop to her lips, and suddenly all she felt herself tense up. All she could see was the way Bass would stare at her when she was his, and she started to panic. She took a few steps back, and tried to calm herself down but she couldn't. Jason could clearly see she was upset. "Charlie?"

He took a step forward, but that only made her want to get away faster. "I'm sorry, I'm fine really." She said, quickly walking away from him. She closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from shaking. Why was she acting like this? It was ridiculous. But then again what had happened back there? Was Jason really about to kiss her or did she just imagine it? She shook her head. No, surely he wouldn't have done that, not now with everything that happened with Bass.

"Hey, you okay?" Miles asked. Charlie stopped suddenly, sucking in a breath. She couldn't let Miles see her upset, so she nodded, still not sure if she could make herself speak. "You sure, because I think you're crying." She silently cursed herself and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine, okay?" Miles started to respond, but he was cut off when Mr. and Mrs. Gates returned from their discussion. Everyone gathered around as she began to speak.

"Well, we've decided that you can all stay with us on our farm while your friend recovers. We have plenty of extra rooms in the house now that our boys are grown, and to be completely honest we could use some extra hands around the farm."

Charlie glanced up at Miles as he considered the offer. She knew how he thought, and she could guess what was going through his head right now. That they didn't know these people, that they could be turned over to the Georgia Federation, that Bass could discover their location if they stayed in one place too long. But then she knew what else he had to consider, that Rachel was in bad condition and she needed a stable place to recover, and this woman was a doctor so she could help. This was his sister-in-law's only hope for survival, and he couldn't let her die.

"All right," he said warily, shaking her hand. "We'll go with you."

Tom Neville was angry. No, angry wasn't a strong enough word. He was furious. His men patrolled the border constantly, they were highly trained and instructed to make sure no one got out of the Republic, and what happened? Miles Matheson showed up and blew them all away, and now he and the girl were beyond their reach. Not only that, but Jason and Julia were with him.

What was he supposed to tell Monroe? And what was he supposed to do? He couldn't let the general know that his family had defected. If he did the man would order them shot on sight, and he would begin to question Tom's loyalty as well. But then again he couldn't lie, because if Monroe ever found out... it would be better if he was dead.

He sighed and opened the doors to Monroe's office, might as well get this out of the way and not put it off. "Ah, Tom. I hope you have good news?" Tom sighed and looked down. No, he didn't have good news, and he knew that the general wasn't going to like that.

"No, sir. I don't. You see..." he paused, daring to look up at Monroe as he said this, "The Mathesons escaped in to Georgia." The look on Monroe's face went from curiosity and hope to complete fury in a split second. He said nothing at first, though it looked like he wanted to throw something against the wall. Instead he turned around, collecting himself. Neville let out a deep breathe he'd been holding. Maybe the general wouldn't blow up on him.

"And you are responsible for this?" he asked. His voice was cold, but Tom could hear the emotion just below the surface. Monroe was angry, and he wanted to know who to be angry with.

"Indirectly, sir. I placed Sergeant Donovan in charge of that section of the border, but he was killed in the fight with Matheson." Of course that wasn't exactly true. Donovan was only in charge of his squad, it was Tom who oversaw the operation, placed the patrols. Then again, it couldn't hurt to blame a dead man.

Monroe nodded and turned around, still angry but doing a better job of hiding it. "And who all was with them? Who escaped in to Georgia?"

"All the Mathesons, and Nora Clayton, that was to be expected. And... my wife and son." Tom held his breathe as the general stepped closer to him.

"Your wife and son... are with Miles and Charlie?" Tom nodded, knowing it was wisest not to speak. "So they're helping them escape? You mean to tell me that your son, and your wife, are helping Charlie get away with my baby!"

"I know how this look, sir, but I swear I am not-"

"No! You don't get to speak!" Monroe slammed his fist down against the desk, and Tom knew this was going to be bad. "I trusted you, Tom. I trusted that you would have ensured your family's loyalty, but you didn't."

"I do not condone my wife's-"

"Stop it. Just stop. How can I expect you to lead an army when you can't even lead your own family?" Monroe walked back behind his desk, and Tom watched in anger. How dare he question his ability to lead? Hadn't he always proven himself a loyal soldier? One of the best officers in the Republic? And here he was, treating him like the scum on the bottom of the pond just because of his son's selfishness.

"With all due respect, sir," he said, spitting out the title with resentment, "need I remind you that I'm not the only one who lost control over my family. Or am I wrong in assuming that the Matheson girl escaped without your allowing it?" Monroe narrowed his eyes and stared at Tom, but he didn't back down. He stayed confident in himself, because any sign of weakness and the general would tear him apart.

Monroe just looked at him, trying to decide whether to shoot him for insubordination or award him for bravery. Instead, he focused on the more important issue at hand. "Prepare a division of men. We're marching on Georgia."

"What?" Tom was genuinely shocked. Was he serious? Surely he couldn't be. "But, sir, we can't!"

"Don't tell me what I can't do! Charlie is Georgia, Tom! I have to get to her."

"Yes, I understand that, but there has to be another way. The roads are impassable! We'd lose half of our army just on the journey south, and then President Foster would blow us all away. It's impossible, sir."

Monroe stopped and looked down at his desk. Tom hoped he would be able to see reason on this, for the sake of the men. Sending an army to fight a war in these conditions would just be a suicide mission, and he hated it every time he saw a good man die. Slowly, the general raised his head. "You're right. We have to be smart about this, we can't just rush in blindly."

Tom sighed in relief. "I'm glad you feel that way, general."

"But believe me when I say this. As soon as spring comes, I am taking my army and I will personally march in the Georgia. I will burn every village until I find Charlie and when I do, she will regret everything she has done."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N Hey look, another chapter! Yay! I didn't have writer's block this time, and I actually really like this chapter. Is it possible to fangirl over your own story? Because I'm really excited about this one. I just really enjoyed writing it. Anyway, I also have some special news so stick around for the author's note at the end.

Charlie rubbed a hand over her very round stomach as she stepped out on to the porch. It was a beautiful morning, the hot Georgia sun blazing down on the flowers. Just a week ago this place had been overcast and cold, and now signs of life were emerging. Spring had come. Charlie sat down on the swing and took a sip of her iced tea. She was seven moths along now, and according to Mrs. Gates she was in great condition. Her baby was healthy and so was she, but she wondered how long that would last.

Things had been fairly peaceful over the winter, a nice break considering all she'd been through in the past year. Her mother managed to keep from getting an infection, and she made a full recovery. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful. There was work to be done around the farm of course, work they willingly helped with in payment for Mrs. Gates's medical expertise and the roof over their heads. Apparently it's hard getting farmhands around here, with all the men leaving to join the military or trading expeditions to Europe. Not even one of the Gates's four sons stayed home to take care of the farm.

Charlie looked up and saw Miles, Jason, and Mr. Gates approaching the house, carrying some game with the,. They'd been out hunting practically all night, and they looked exhausted. Mrs. Gates came hurrying out of the house to greet them. "Oh, you boys must be so tired. Here, take the animals out back and then come inside, I have some iced tea ready. Charlie, could you go fetch some more water? I need to get lunch started."

I nodded and leaned down to grab the pail, but Jason took it instead. "I'll come with you." He said with a smile. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. Things had been... awkward with Jason lately. Ever since that day in the woods she hadn't been able to look at him without remembering how he tried to kiss her. But as much as she wanted to avoid him, he was the only one around that was her age, and it was nice to have him as company sometimes.

So she nodded, and she and Jason walked down the steps, starting towards the well. It wasn't a long walk to get there, and they began drawing water. Charlie was content not speaking, but Jason decided to break the silence. "So, uh... how's the baby doing?"

"Pretty good," she answered, "Mrs. Gates says he should be born sometime in May. Or she, I guess."

Jason nodded. "You know, before the blackout they had these machines that could let you know whether your baby was a boy or a girl, months before it was born. My mom kept the pictures of me and I would look at them sometimes."

Charlie shook her head. She had a hard time remembering most of the things that happened before the blackout, since she was only five when it happened. But Jason was a little older, and it amazed her that he could remember these things that were basically fairy tales to her. "It's hard to imagine," she said, and Jason walked around to her side of the well. As he took the bucket from her, their fingers brushed together and Charlie took in a sharp breathe.

They both froze, and Charlie's eyes dropped to the ground. She didn't want to look at him, all she could think about was the way Bass's hands felt as they gripped her arms, threw her against the bed. She could still feel his grip on her, despite how long ago it had been. She closed her eyes, wishing she could just forget. It would be so much easier if she could just forget. Jason reached forward and lifted her face so she was looking at him in the eyes. His look... it was so different than Bass's. He seemed like he cared, like he was really looking at her and not just his idea of what he wanted her to be. His eyes darted down to her lips and he started to move forward.

Just as his lips barely brushed against hers, Charlie felt a panic rise up inside her. She pushed him away and jumped back a few steps. "What the hell was that?" she asked, furious that he would try to kiss her. How dare he? After everything she had been through? Jason realized his mistake, and immediately began to apologize.

"Charlie, I'm so sorry. I never should have... I wasn't thinking and I'm just... I'm an idiot."

"Uh, yeah. You are. What were you even thinking?"

Jason sighed and shook his head. "I wasn't. I wasn't thinking about it, and I apologize. I'll never do it again, I swear." He looked so dejected and upset, Charlie couldn't help but feel bad for him. Instantly her anger vanished, replaced with the urge to fix this situation before they ended up not speaking to each other or something.

"Jason, I... I like you. A lot. But you have to understand, I can't..." she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. She looked back down at her growing stomach before continuing. "I just can't do this, even if I wanted to. With everything Bass did to me, it's just too hard. I'm sorry."

Jason nodded and stepped towards her again, but this time she didn't move away. "It's fine, I understand completely. I should have thought about everything you've been through, that was stupid of me."

Charlie smiled. She had no argument with that particular statement. "I still want to be friends with you, though. I don't know what I'd do if that fell apart. I mean, you're one of the only people I can really talk to about just about anything."

"Really? You'd talk to me about anything?" Charlie nodded. "I can't believe you trust me that much," Jason said, a guilty look coming over his face. "I mean with everything that happened between us in the past... and what my dad did to your family."

Charlie thought about Major Neville, the man who killed her father and kidnapped her brother, leading to his eventual death. The fact that a man she hated so much was the father of someone she cared about was... difficult to deal with. "You always tried to protect me, and I'm thankful for that. And with your dad..." she thought for a moment before answering very quietly. "I have to believe that your genetics don't define who you are."

Jason nodded, gesturing knowingly to her stomach. "Because of the baby." Charlie nodded. She loved her baby more than anything, but she couldn't deny that Bass being the father did worry her a little. She knew that she would do her best to ensure her child didn't turn out like him, but he was its father. How much of himself would he pass on to his child? How much would she pass on? She wanted to believe that it didn't matter, that her child would never be like their father. She had to believe it. But then again, there was always that doubt.

"How did you do it?" she asked. "How did you keep from turning in to your father?" Jason paused to think, and Charlie held her breathe.

"Well, my mother had a lot to do with it," he started to explain. "I mean, even when my father had to do terrible things for us to survive, she always told me that it didn't have to be this way. That one day things would be better. She made sure I knew the difference between right and wrong, and she did her best to lead me towards the right way."

Charlie smiled a bit. That, she knew she could do with her child. Of course she would teach him or her what was right, and what was wrong. Jason continued. "Of course, in the end it was my choice. I could have stayed with my dead and helped him murder people, but I chose not to. Then again, I could have left sooner. It just took me a long time to realize that I wasn't my dad. I'm my own person, and your baby is going to be its own person too. It won't be just like Monroe, but it won't be just like you either. All you can do is try to lead him or her in the right direction, it's up to them who they become."

Jason was right, of course. He was completely right and Charlie knew it. All this time she'd been worrying about whether her child would turn out more like Bass or more like her, but the truth was exactly what Jason said. Her child was going to be their own person, and make their own choices in life.

They poured the last of the water in to the bucket and started walking back to the house. They each took a side because it was so heavy now, and Charlie felt her baby start to move. She laughed and grabbed Jason's free hand, pulling it to her stomach. "Jason, come here. Do you feel that?"

He smiled as the baby kicked again. "I guess someone's anxious to get out in to the world." They started walking again, and Charlie began to think about what would happen when the baby was born. She knew what it took to take care of a baby, but then she thought about the years to come. The first words, first steps, first day of school. Before long her child would be getting taller and taller. If it was a boy he would probably be taller than her one day. She wondered if he would end up taller than Bass... but that was so far away. Bass probably wouldn't even be alive by then. Someone will have made him pay for all the death he caused.

But what would her child think about that? Growing up never knowing it's father? Then again, would it be better if it did know Bass and all the terrible things he did? It was a difficult question, one she didn't know the answer to. A bird call sounded through the trees, bringing her back to reality. Charlie looked up and saw two red birds flying together through the branches, reminding her of what season it was. "Spring is here," she said, locking eyes with Jason.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither saying anything but they both knew what the other was thinking. "Yeah. I guess that means we'll have more work to do around the farm." Jason said, avoiding the topic as best he could, but it was no use.

"He's going to be coming for me." Charlie said. "He's going to try to take my baby away." She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice, but Jason could hear the fear coming through. He stopped and set the bucket of water down, turning around to face her.

"Hey," he said, reaching forward and wrapping her in a hug. "Everything is going to be okay, don't worry."

"How can I not? Bass has a whole army, and there's nothing more important to him right now than finding me. It's only a matter of time before he gets to me."

"No, he won't. You know that Miles won't let that happen, and neither will I. I swear, Charlie, even if I have to kill him myself I will not let Monroe hurt you ever again."

"You promise?" He pulled away from the hug and looked her in the eyes.

"I do."

A/N Okay, so my story now has the most reviews out of all the Revolution fics! I'm so excited and so so honored that you all enjoy my story so much. I probably would have given up on this ages ago if it weren't for all of you. Each and every one of your reviews have inspired me to keep writing, so I want to send a special thank you to each person who reviewed.

virgobeauty30, scifigirl10, tucklil, CMT1992, WWE'sPyroDevil, Yeddi, majestic seahorse, Sally1212, Evey Edge, Sonitar, Sajna18, BelieverofManyThings, Readergirl66, WolfAngel62, EndoTrauma, emmywyso, Fallen Outcast, IluvMarkSailing, ooooo97199797, Starbuck6710, Lost Time Traveler, scarykitten, Totter4, Angel 2379, bethelove, Lindsbat, Fanoudusud, Lorene23, Krighty, mrsbassmonroe, MoonlightDemoness, and Autumn Shaw.

A special thank you to foreverVam , Headintheclouds01, and jaja189 for being especially helpful. :) I love each and every one of you!


	21. Chapter 21

A/N I know, I know, I'm so late. And this is a very short chapter too! I'm so terribly sorry. I would give you guys a list of excuses but I think you've waited long enough for this chapter so without further ado... here you are: Chapter 21.

Sebastian Monroe sat behind his desk in solitude. Leaning back, he grabbed the half-empty bottle of whiskey and poured himself another shot. This was becoming a daily occurrence, sitting in his office alone, trying to drink away all his pain. He missed Charlie, and he absolutely hated that he hadn't seen her in over five months. She was seven moths pregnant now, and if he didn't find her soon he was going to miss everything.

He stood up and walked over to the inside wall where a large map had been hung. It was huge, covering all of the Georgia Federation in great detail. Bass may not have been able to move large armies over the winter, but he still managed to send him some individual spies to gather intel. They now had the locations of several military centers of operation and knew a great deal about the different roads. But there was still no sign of Charlie.

It made Bass furious that he hadn't recovered her yet. Where could she possibly hiding that his men couldn't find her? They all knew what she looked like, and she was pregnant for God's sake. How do you keep that from being obvious? Bass was certain that if any of his spies even caught a glimpse of her, she would be immediately recognized. So where the hell was she?

The doors to his office, and he straightened up a little before turning around. Tom Neville stepped inside and approached him. "Sir, permission to give my report?"

Bass nodded and sat down at his desk. "Granted."

"Our workers have finished clearing the roads, sir. I believe we can finally move against Georgia." Bass smiled. Finally, the news he'd been waiting to hear. "If that is still your intent, of course." Tom added.

Bass's head shot up. Was that defiance in the major's voice. Was he questioning his decisions. "Of course it's still my intent, Major, why wouldn't it be?" Tom tilted his head and spoke in that annoyed tone that was so familiar to him.

"Well, if you order a full assault against Georgia there will be heavy casualties, and it may take a lot of time and resources to take control of the entire nation. All of which is understandable, of course, but it may not be necessary."

"What are you talking about?"

Tom walked forward and put his hands on Monroe's desk. "I'm talking about what you really want, the Matheson girl and your child. Is it really essential to take over Georgia in order to get them back? Because it seems like if you devoted more of the Republic's resources to finding her and less to attacking Georgia then you'd have a better chance of getting her back."

Bass let out a breath and turned around to gather his composure. What right did Major Neville have to speak to him that way? None! He was General of the Monroe Republic, and Tom's commanding officer. How dare he question his decisions? Bass slowly turned around and stared at Tom for a moment before moving forward and punching him in the face.

Tom fell to the ground, completely unprepared for the attack. As he struggled to get back up, Bass walked around his desk and pushed him back against the wall, shooting daggers with his eyes. "Are you questioning me, Tom? Are you doubting my ability to command, is that what this is about?"

By now Major Neville had regained his composure, and he faced the general boldly. "No, sir. You are the general, and you have my loyalty as my commander. However," Tom paused, and Bass narrowed his eyes. "I think you need to reevaluate the situation. If you devote all your resources to finding Charlie, it's true that you won't be able to take over Georgia right now. But, you'll have what's most important to you, Charlie and your baby. On the other hand you could put all your effort in to securing the Georgia Federation, but if you do Charlie may slip from your grasp forever."

"No!" Bass said, pushing Tom closer against the wall. "No, I'm going to take over Georgia, and I'm going to look for Charlie at the same time. I can do both."

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. Why take the chance? You need to cut your losses, choose which is more important to you, Georgia or your family. Because if you don't, you might just lose both."

Bass took a step back and looked at the floor. No, he couldn't choose, he wouldn't choose. He needed to get his child back, but what good would that be if Georgia invaded in a few years and wiped them all out? He needed to care of this now, once and for all before things got out of hand. "I won't do it, Tom." He said. "I am completely capable of leading an invasion and leading a search. I will have my family back, and I will take over Georgia. I will find a way to have everything."

He stopped and released his grip on Tom, who didn't seem affected by the attack at all. "Now, take me to see the men." The major nodded and gestured to the door, and the two men walked out of the room. Tom lead him down several hallways and up staircases, until they reached the fifth floor. Then they moved out on to a balcony and Bass stepped forward.

The balcony overlooked a large courtyard, where he could see hundreds of soldiers gathering. All winter he had worked to find new recruits, train the army so that it was just as ruthless as he. And now it was time for them to put their training in to action. Bass turned around and faced Major Neville again, staring for a moment and trying to decide what to say to him.

"When will they be ready to move out?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Bass nodded. "Very well. Prepare my personal transportation and assign a personal guard."

"Sir?" Tom asked, "You will be accompanying the army in their assault?"

"Of course I will be accompanying them. I'm going to lead this invasion personally, from the front lines. What, did you think I was going to place some random officer in charge of this while I wait patiently behind my desk?" Tom appeared flustered, but quickly regained his composure.

"Well, it would have been the safest option."

"I don't care about safety, Major. I care about results, and if that means I have to get my hands dirty, I will. I'm the general, I have that right."

"Of course you do, sir, I would never question that."

Bass raised an eyebrow. Neville was asking a lot of questions today, giving a lot of suggestions. Did he not know his place? Was he challenging Bass's authority, or worse, his ability to lead? Clearly something was going on, and he didn't like the idea of leaving the man in Philadelphia. True he was qualified to run the Republic while he was away, but there was always the chance he might try to undermine Bass in his absence. There was only one way to ensure this didn't happen, keep Neville close.

"Major Neville, you will be my second in command on this campaign. I'll leave Baker in charge back in Philadelphia while we're gone."

Tom bowed his head. "Thank you, sir. I'll perform my duties to the best of my ability."

"I'm sure you will..." Bass said. He leaned forward and quietly spoke one last sentance in Neville's ear. "And if you ever question me like this again? I will not hesitate to kill you."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N Well, that wasn't too long of a wait was it? No? Good, that makes me happy. :) By the way, I'm curious as to what you all think is going to happen to Monroe in this story, so if you have any thoughts on that just click the review button and let me know, all right?

Miles looked around at everyone sitting at the table. It seemed like such a normal thing, a family all eating dinner together, like the way things used to be. But Miles hadn't experienced that in a long time, not since before the blackout and even then it was a rare occasion. He had told himself that he was fine, that he didn't need a family or people to care about, but now that he had it he wasn't sure if he could ever go back.

He glanced over at Charlie, who was teasing Jason about something he said earlier, and he smiled. This was all because of her. If she had never come and found him, never wormed her way in to his heart, he'd still be tending that bar in Chicago, all alone in the world. True there had been many hardships along the way, but he wouldn't take any of it back.

She placed a hand over her ever-growing baby bump, and Miles felt his stomach do a somersault. Well, maybe there was one thing he would change. He would keep Bass from abducting his niece. He could only imagine how hard it must have been for Charlie to be held hostage by that man for as long as she was. And with what he was doing to her? Miles was sure that as soon as he got his hands on him, Bass was going to die. It didn't matter what they were in the past, how close they used to be. All that would matter is what he did to Charlie, and he needed to pay.

Miles was quickly brought back to reality when the sound of a door slamming rang through the house. Suddenly Nora and Rachel came running in to the room, trying to catch their breath. "What is it?" he asked, "What's wrong?" Just hours ago the two of them had gone to town to trade some of their meat for spices. He couldn't imagine what could possibly have happened in that time to get them so worked up.

"It's the militia," Nora said, and everyone in the room gasped. "They've broken through the borders. The army is trying to push back but Monroe's forces are advancing quickly. They're coming in our direction." She looked to Miles, hoping that he would have some solution. He dropped his head. This was not good, this was not good at all. He needed time to think, to make a plan.

"What are we going to do?" Rachel asked. "I mean we have to do something!" Miles turned away from the group and placed his hands on his head. What to do, what to do?

"If Monroe attacked Georgia, that he means he knows we're here. He's going to be coming for Charlie!" Jason pointed out. "We can't just let him take her!"

"I know, Jason, don't worry. We won't let anything happen to her," Nora said.

"And how do you plan to protect her?" he countered. "This farm is completely vulnerable to attack, we're not safe here. And most importantly, Charlie isn't safe here."

"Miles?" He turned around and there she was, looking up at him with those big blue eyes. She seemed so scared, and he was the one she was turning to to make her feel safe. Miles sighed. He knew Charlie was counting on him, and so was everyone else, but honestly he wasn't sure what they could do against the militia. They were just too strong to fight, and that only left one option.

"I guess we'll have to leave again," he said.

"Leave?" Julia asked, finally standing up. "Leave and go where?"

Miles shook his head. "Monroe won't be satisfied until he takes over the continent, and with his power you know he can do it. Maybe... maybe if we left now we could make it to the coast in time, catch a boat on its way to Europe."

No one spoke for a moment, letting the implications of what he just said sink in. Charlie seemed especially thoughtful, and she asked in a quiet voice, "You mean... just leave Georgia, leave the Republic, leave our home? We don't even know what it's like in Europe, it could be worse than here."

"But Bass won't be able to follow us, we'll be safe."

"For how long? I mean it's only a matter of time before he would figure out where we went and come after us again. We can't just keep running from him, Miles. If we do, he'll never let us stop."

Miles sighed. She was right of course, she was almost always right. But if they didn't escape, what else were they supposed to do? "The militia is too strong. They're going to take over Georgia, and once that happens we won't be safe."

"And if Bass keeps on like this, eventually nowhere will be safe!" Charlie shouted. She looked around at everyone's shocked faces and made herself calm down a bit. "Look, it's because of me that he invaded Georgia, and if I go somewhere else he'll just follow me. We have to stop this here, before anyone else can suffer."

She had a good point, and everyone seemed to agree. Miles knew that Monroe had to be stopped, but the problem was how to do it. The militia was overrunning Georgia's forces, and soon they would control the area. What could six people, one of whom was heavily pregnant, do against such a powerful military force? What advantage could they possible have?

Then it hit him. Suddenly, he remembered something that might be the key to defeating Monroe. "Rachel?" he asked, "How many pendants do we still have?"

Her face lit up as she realized what he was thinking. "Two. One from Sanborn and one that we pulled from the wreckage of the helicopter."

"If we can get those pendants to Atlanta, do you think you could make some more amplifiers so that-"

"So that Georgia can use more advanced weaponry against the militia!" she said, finishing his thought. "I think I could, if I had the right materials of course, but I'm sure I could find them in a big city like Atlanta."

"Great," Miles said, and he turned to the rest of the group. "We'll leave as soon as we can. Jason, you get our guns and ammo from the cabinet. Nora, Julia, start packing food and water. Charlie," he said, turning to his niece. He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to tell her. "Charlie, if we're going to do this, if we're going to fight Monroe, you have to listen to me, okay? Do exactly what I tell you to."

She nodded. "I know. Don't worry, I know I need to stay out of trouble."

Miles smiled. Not long ago Charlie would hardly ever listen to him when he told her to stay put, but now that she was pregnant she realized that she needed to be responsible. That was the one good thing that came out of this whole situation. "Good," he said, "Now go get the map from upstairs."

She nodded and hurried off to find it. Miles watched her go, then turned to Rachel, who was still standing there. "I just have on small problem with this," he said.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"The president, President Foster? Well, she sort of hates my guts," he said. "I'm pretty sure as soon as she sees me she'll try to slice me open."

"Come on, it can't be that bad!" Rachel said. "You didn't see me try to kill you when I saw you."

Miles shot her a look. "No, you just slapped me in the face, but I'm pretty sure if we hadn't been in a life-threatening situation things might have gone a little differently." She just shrugged and a small smile appeared on her face.

"I guess we'll never know." She turned and walked towards where Julia and Nora had gone to help them, and Miles shook his head. Then Charlie came bounding back to down the stairs, well as much as she could while being pregnant, and laid the map out on the table.

"Thank you, Charlie," he said, and they spread it out so that it was completely unfolded. Miles placed one finger on Atlanta, and then another on the location of their farm. "That's going to be a long walk from here," he said with a sigh. "And if we don't want Bass to know where we're going, we'll have to avoid being seen. That means avoiding any towns we come across. We'll be in the wilderness."

He leaned back from the table and glanced over at Charlie. She just shrugged. "We've hiked through the wilderness before, we can do it again no problem."

"Yeah, no problem. I'm sure the fact that you're seven months pregnant won't be a problem at all," he answered sarcastically.

She looked down at her stomach and sighed. "Right, that." The front door slammed again, and Jason walked in carrying their guns. He laid them on the table beside the map and began separating them out.

"All right, we've got three rifles, two pistols, and plenty of ammunition." He said, handing a rifle to Miles and taking one for himself. Then he took one of the pistols and handed it to Charlie. "Just in case."

She nodded and carefully took the gun, making sure the safety was on and it wasn't loaded before strapping on a holster. Jason gave her a few rounds and she put that in her belt as well. Miles was used to the sight of Charlie with a gun, but the fact that she was pregnant threw the whole thing off. He shook his head. Of course it was weird, everything was weird with her now. He just couldn't get over the fact that his niece, who was practically still a kid, was having a kid of her own. Just another reason to hate Monroe.

The girls returned with the packs of food and water, and Julia handed hers to Jason. He took it and slung it across his shoulder, but then he counted the packs. There was one missing. "Mother?" he asked. "Where's your pack?"

She sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I don't have one. I don't have one because I'm not going with you."

"What are you talking about, of course you are!" he said. "You have to come with us, so that I can protect you. You know you won't be safe here, what if the militia comes?"

"Jason, I just can't go. You know me, I'm not cut out for this sort of thing. Treks through the wilderness, fighting the militia. I just can't do it." He shook his head, started to protest, but Julia cut him off. "Son, I promise, I will be safe here. But you have to go and help Charlie."

A tear filled Jason's eye, and he looked down at her with puppy-dog eyes, begging her to go with him, but it was useless. Julia had made up her mind, and there was nothing he could do to change it. He reached down and wrapped his mother in a long, tight hug. "I'll come back for you when this is over, I promise."

"I'll be waiting," she said, and pulled away from her son. She smiled and wiped away his tears. Jason looked over at the others, who had moved in to the living room and were waiting on him. When he walked over to them, Miles nodded.

"All right, let's get going," he said. Everyone went out on to the porch and started to walk down the road. Jason paused at the bottom of the steps and turned around. His mother stood at the railing, waving goodbye. He smiled and waved back, then turned around before it became too painful. Charlie sent him a sympathetic smile.

"It's going to be all right, you know," she said, and she grabbed his hand. He looked down and gave her hand a friendly squeeze.

"Yeah, I know," he said, and he smiled. "Thank you." They let go of their hands and kept walking, hurrying to catch up with the others.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N I know, I know, I know! I'm sorry! I'm a terrible author! Gosh, I never meant for this to occur. I don't know how this even happened. Time just got away from me and before I knew it, it had been over a week since my last update! *sigh* I know. I'm horrible. Please forgive me.

The troops marched along the road in perfect formation, eyes staring straight ahead, faces devoid of emotion. This was how they were trained to behave, and they were trained well. He sat on his most trusted horse, looking out over his army from a ridge above the road. Up here he wasn't Bass anymore, he was General Monroe.

He flicked the reigns and his horse turned around, trotted back to the center of town where the militia had taken control. They were making fast progress through Georgia. It was just under a week ago that they made their strike on the border, and now they were halfway to Atlanta. True, they had lost a lot of good men, but it was worth it. Just a little bit longer, and all of the Georgia Federation would be part of the Republic.

Of course that wasn't the only reason Bass was here. No, he was also searching for Charlie. So far he hadn't had any luck, not until that morning of course. After invading this little town, one of its citizens graciously informed them of a group of people who arrived several months ago, a heavily pregnant girl among them.

It had to be Charlie. It just had to be. What other explanation was there? Bass felt excitement growing inside him. Finally, he was so close to finding her. It had now been over five months since her escape, far too long. She would be close to having the baby by now. Bass smiled at that thought. Soon, very soon, he was going to be a father.

He signaled to a few other soldiers who were also on horses, and they rode over to him. "I'm investigating a tip I received on an escaped prisoner," he said to them. "You three are going to accompany me."

"Yes sir," one of them answered. "When do we leave?"

"Right now, so follow me." The ride to the house didn't take very long on horseback, but to Bass it felt like ages. By the time they arrived he had grown incredibly anxious. He wanted to see Charlie again, but at the same time he dreaded how she was going to react to him. After all, she ran off to get away from him, and she certainly wouldn't be happy when he showed up again. Not to mention Miles.

He took a deep breath and barged through the front door, not even bothering to knock. "Is anyone home?" he asked in a loud voice, and he started to walk through the house. There was no response. "I know you're here, Charlie. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be." Then he heard something, a small noise at the end of a hallway.

Instantly, he moved towards it. He flung the door open expecting to find Charlie, but instead it was an older man and woman. The man jumped up and stood in front of his wife. "What are you doing in my house?" he asked angrily. Bass glanced around the room, but there was no one else there. "I asked you a question, young man!"

Silently, he turned to the elderly couple and approached them. "Excuse me?" he asked in a low voice. "How dare you speak to me with such disrespect? Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No, and I don't care. Now get off my property!"

"I am General Monroe!" he shouted. "Now move!" he pointed down the hallway, but the man just shook his head.

"You may be a general, but you're not my general. You have no authority over me," he answered bravely.

Bass let out a little laugh and reached behind him. If this man was foolish enough to challenge him, so be it. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at the man's head. "This gun has authority over you," he said, and the man had no response. Bass smirked. "Into the living room, both of you."

They obeyed his command, and he followed closely behind them, never lowering his pistol. When they sat down on the couch, he remained standing. "I'm looking for a group of people," he explained, "and I was told they were seen talking with you two in town."

The man glanced at the woman, and she just shrugged. "You'll have to be more specific. We talk to a lot of people when we're in town."

Bass narrowed his eyes. Now they were just being obstinate. It was clear that they both knew exactly who he was talking about, but they didn't seem very willing to share their information. "Two men, one in his forties and one in his early twenties, two blond women, a hispanic lady, and a pregnant girl. Any of that ring a bell?"

They exchanged a glance, and it was obvious that they knew. "No... I can't say that it does." the man answered. Bass sighed.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you're not really giving me a choice here." Suddenly he lunged forward and grabbed both of them, pulling them outside and down the steps. With one thrust they both fell on their knees. He walked around them and placed his gun to the man's head. When he released the safety it made a clicking noise, and the man flinched.

"I'm going to give you one chance to answer me, and tell me where I can find those people. If you haven't told me by the time I count to three, I swear to god I will pull this trigger. One." The man was visibly shaking, but he still stared at the ground. "Two." Bass really didn't want to do this. He would prefer to have the man alive so he could lead them to Charlie, but if he wasn't willing to cooperate... "Three."

Well, that was it. Bass sighed and started to squeeze the trigger, but before he could he heard a loud bang. His eyes shot up, and when he realized what it was, he smiled. Julia Neville was standing right there at the corner of the house, a pail of water lying sideways at her feet, spilling out all over the ground. She must have dropped it in shock whenever she saw what he was doing. "You," she whispered.

"Julia, what a pleasure to see you again." He signaled to his soldiers, and they brought her over to kneel next to the older woman. "Perhaps you can tell me where I might find the rest of your little group." She said nothing, just glared at him with a fury. Bass sighed. "Well all right, then." In one swift move he lifted his gun again and fired a bullet straight through the old man's brain.

His wife screamed his name, and his body fell against the dirt. A pool of blood began forming beneath his head. Bass then turned his attention to the woman, who was crying now. He put a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place, and thrust the barrel of his gun against her skull. "Tell me where they are!" he shouted, and the woman kept crying. "Tell me where I can find her!"

With one shake of the head the woman decided her fate. Bass squeezed the trigger and another body bled out on to the ground. He glanced down at his hands, which were now splattered with both of his victims' blood. Slowly, he pulled out a handkerchief and began to wipe it off. It was already stained with dark red patched, clearly having been used for this very same purpose many times before.

He glanced over at Julia, who was watching him carefully. He was trying to intimidate her, and so far it looked like it was working. She seemed nervous, her eyes glued to his gun. He walked over and crouched down before her so they could be at eye level. He sighed and started releasing the clip on his gun and putting it back in, over and over. With each click it seemed as if Julia's eyes were growing wider and wider.

"I want to find Charlie, Julia," he said in a soft voice. "And I know that you can tell me where she is. So please, just tell me." She was shaking, but she still wasn't saying anything. Bass was beginning to feel a little nervous. Julia was the only one left who knew where Charlie had gone. If she didn't tell him, he might never find her. He couldn't afford to kill her, but he couldn't let her know that.

"Julia," he whispered menacingly in to her ear. "You know I won't hesitate to kill you."

"I know," she said, her voice barely audible.

"Then why won't you just tell me where she is?"

"Because..." she started to answer, but then stopped herself.

"Because of what, Julia?" he asked, starting to get impatient.

"Because Jason is with her, and I don't want anything to happen to him," she finally said, tears streaming down her face. Bass sighed and ran his hand over his face. Clearly she wasn't going to tell him anything if she thought her son was in danger.

"Listen, I don't want anything to happen to Jason either," he said, as convincingly as he could. "All I want is to get Charlie back. No one else has to get hurt in this, especially not the son of my second in command."

She glanced up. "You made Tom your second in command?"

"Yes, for this campaign anyway," he answered. "Now please, Julia. If you just tell me where they went, I'll take you back to our camp so you can be with your husband again."

For a moment, she didn't speak. She closed her eyes, seemed to be considering his offer. Bass held his breath, hoping beyond hope that she would choose to answer him truthfully. Finally she sighed and said, "All right. I'll tell you everything you want to know, but with one condition."

"Of course, anything," he answered, eager to get the information he needed.

"You have to swear you won't hurt Jason. Promise you'll let my son live."

He nodded. "Of course, you have my word. I won't touch a hair on his head." She sighed in relief. "Now tell me where they went."

"They left almost a week ago. They said they were going to Atlanta, they should be there by now."

"Atlanta?" Bass asked. "Why on earth would they go there?" If they were trying to hide from him, Atlanta seemed like the last place they should go. Didn't they understand that he was planning to take complete control of the Georgia Federation? And in order to do that, he had to go to the capital.

"They said something about helping wanting to help Georgia defeat you. They wanted to stop you before you took over the whole world, or something along those lines."

Bass nodded and stood up. He didn't know exactly how they thought they were going to defeat him, but it didn't matter. Now he knew where Charlie was, and nothing was going to stop him from getting to her. The fact that she was in Atlanta was even better, because now he could both find her and take over the Georgia Federation at the same time. He would be able to have everything.

"Thank you, Mrs. Neville," he said in a cold voice. "Your help is very much appreciated." Suddenly, he twisted around and aimed his pistol at her face. She didn't even have time to speak before the bullet flew in to her forehead, and everything around her went black. Bass slowly lowered the gun and placed it back in its holster.

He glanced down at the three bodies on the ground, all covered in blood. It was so easy to take their lived, as simple as pulling the trigger, and now he had done it so many times that he didn't even feel guilty anymore. The first time, it was awful. He threw up as soon as he saw the body fall to the ground, and he had nightmares for weeks. But now, he didn't feel anything at all. He was completely numb, and he hated it.

"Take care of these bodies," he ordered, and two of the soldiers immediately went to work on it. He placed a hand on the other one's chest to stop him from moving to help. "You. I want you to organize a small group of men to scout ahead the quickest path to Atlanta. And if you happen to come across the people I'm looking for," he paused, remembering the promise he made to Julia before he did. "If you find them, then take the pregnant girl and... kill all the rest."


	24. Chapter 24

A/N Okay... so here's the thing. I know it's been like... almost three weeks, I think, since I last updated, and I think I owe you all an explanation. First of all, my computer crashed, so that's part of it, but the main issue was that I had writer's block. Not just on this fic, but on everything. I have done literally nothing creative at all in these past three weeks. However, today I had the brilliant idea to rewatch the last two episodes of Revolution, and in doing so I got my muse back. So, I give you this new chapter. It's not quite as good as I would like it to be, but it's enough. It sets up some things for the next chapter and... yeah. Also, just a little warning, this chapter is slightly more intense than any I've written previously, but there's still nothing explicit. I'm never going to write anything that's graphic. Oh! Here's a little funfact by the way- this chapter was written on location! Yes, I am in Atlanta at the moment, and this chapter is set in Atlanta. So there's that. Not that any of you care. I'm gonna shut up now and just let you read the story.

Charlie trudged through the streets of Atlanta, keeping her head down the whole way. Her hand was holding on to her uncle's, letting him guide her through the crowds of people. She just didn't have the energy to do it herself. They had been traveling nearly nonstop for a week, barely getting any sleep at all. They didn't have time to take a break and rest, not with Bass on his way, and that left Charlie was exhausted. She focused on her feet, placing one in front of the other over and over. They felt heavy as lead.

Miles stopped abruptly, and Charlie nearly walked right in to him. She lifted her eyes and looked at the building down at the end of the street. The Capitol Building. It was large, even bigger than the one back in Philadelphia, and it seemed much more grand. White columns towered several stories above marble stairs, and the large doors were made completely of glass. Charlie looked up, and saw a golden dome sitting on top of the roof. Suddenly, she felt very small.

"All right," Miles said, gathering their small group together. "We need to talk to President Foster, but something tells me getting an audience won't be the easiest thing in the world. And even if we do… I'm not so sure she'll be very inclined to listen to anything I have to say."

"Why's that?" Charlie asked.

"Because she hates me," he answered. She tilted her head, asking with her eyes for a better explanation. Miles sighed. "You know I wasn't exactly the best guy when I was the general of the Republic. We were both in leadership positions of nations that were at odds. It was inevitable that we would be… not exactly friendly," he dropped his eyes as he spoke, looking at the ground, the crowd, everywhere but at her.

"What did you do to her?"

"What?" he asked, her question catching him off guard.

"Come on, Miles. I know you better than you think," Charlie explained. "I know there's something you're not telling us, some other reason that the president of Georgia hates you. So, what is it? What did you do to her?"

Miles dropped his head. He had tried to avoid this part of the conversation as best he could, but he should have known that it was inevitable. He just didn't want to talk about the details of his past, despite the fact that Charlie already knew what he'd done and accepted him. True, she had a general idea of the kind of man he used to be, but he still feared that if she knew the details, she would be appalled. "I sort of… well… I killed her husband and her two children," he admitted, and looked away, fearing his niece's reaction.

But she didn't do what he expected her to. She didn't get up and walk away. She didn't yell at him for taking the lives of innocent children. She didn't demand that he go away, not wanting him to be around her or her child. She didn't do anything like that. Instead, she just nodded her head, silently accepting that he had murdered two children. "So how do you think we should get her to listen to us?" she asked.

For a moment, Miles couldn't speak. He was still marveling over the fact that even after all this time and all he had done, Charlie still hadn't abandoned him. "I uh… I'm not sure."

"You mean we came all this way and you didn't have a plan?" Jason asked incredulously. Miles glanced around the street, searching for some kind of inspiration.

"Well, I wasn't fully aware of the situation on the trip over here," he explained, "I wasn't able to make a plan because I didn't have all the facts yet."

"And now that you do?" Nora asked, leaning towards him in anticipation. Miles narrowed his eyes and caught a glimpse of a group of soldiers marching down the street. Slowly he started moving in their direction. "Miles?"

"I think I know how to get an audience with President Foster."

"How?" Rachel asked, following behind him along with the rest of the group.

"Foster hates me," he explained as he made a bee line towards the soldiers. "She's had a warrant out for my arrest for years, and I guarantee you the standing orders are to bring me directly to see her."

Charlie looked down for a moment, trying to process everything he said. When she realized what he was doing, her eyes shot up. "Wait, you're going to get yourself arrested? You can't do that!"

"Too late," he said as he made eye contact with one of the soldiers. Instantly, the man's face changed and he hurried their way. In a matter of seconds all five of them were put in handcuffs and all of their weapons were confiscated.

"Hey, get your hands off me!" Charlie shouted as one of the men grabbed her arm. The minute he touched her, she saw a flash of light, and suddenly it wasn't a random guard. It was Bass. He gripped her arms possessively and pushed her against the wall, shoved his lips against hers. She began to panic, but he kept her firmly in place.

"You can't escape me, Charlie, and you know it," he whispered in to her ear. "No matter where you go, no matter how far you run, I will always find you." She glared at him as he pulled her over to the bed and shoved her against the sheets, forcefully tearing off her shirt. She tried to back up, but he pinned her arms above her head and leaned over, until his face was just centimeters above hers. "You're mine."

"Charlie!" She snapped back to reality and saw Miles standing over her, his hand placed on her forehead. "Charlie, are you okay?" She let out a shaky breathe and took in her surroundings. She wasn't in Philadelphia at all, she was in Atlanta. Bass was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't hurt her.

"I'm fine," she said, and pushed herself up off the floor, dusting off her pants.

"No, you're not fine," Miles insisted, "What the hell happened? Why did you pass out?"

"I said I'm fine, all right!" she yelled. Miles started to speak, but was immediately silenced by a bag being thrown over his head. The soldiers started to haul him away, along with Rachel and Nora and Jason. Suddenly on of the soldiers grabbed Charlie again and dragged her after them. "Hey!" she shouted, "Get your hands off me! Where the hell are you taking us?"

"To see the President," one of them answered, and threw a bag over her head as well


	25. Chapter 25

A/N What's this? Another chapter? Why yes, yes it is. You mean we don't have to wait three weeks for this one? No, no you do not. Yay! I'm so happy! Yes, yes you should be.

Miles was claustrophobic. He'd never told anyone, and usually it wasn't enough to bother him, but sometimes he just felt uncomfortable in tight spaces. Like right now, with a bag over his head blocking out all the light. Everything was black, and he could feel a rope tightening around his neck, pulling the bag closer to his face to the point where he could feel his own breath on his face. And the most unsettling of all was that he didn't know where he was going. With each step he felt sure that he would trip over some unseen object and fall on his face, unable to catch himself with his hands bound the way they were. He felt helpless, and he didn't like it.

When the bag was ripped off his head and he finally saw light again, he was relieved. Then he noticed where he was, and all of his worries came back. President Foster's office. He'd been in this room several times before, many years ago of course, but never as a prisoner and certainly never when there was so much at stake. The President herself was seated behind the desk, facing the window. She turned around slowly.

The minute she saw Miles something changed in her eyes, but just barely. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but then again he wasn't most people. "You," she said in that cold voice of hers. She sounded almost completely devoid of emotion, a talent she developed soon after taking office. It was something that leaders had to do, detach themselves from the situation. At least, they had to pretend to. "What are you doing here, General Matheson? I have a bounty on your head, and yet my soldiers say they found you just outside my headquarters."

"I'm not a general any more," he answered. "I haven't been for quite some time."

"Oh, is that supposed to make me feel better?" Foster pulled out a knife and pressed it against Miles's throat. To the left he heard muffled voices. When he glanced over he saw Charlie, Nora, and the rest of their little group were in the room as well, still being restrained by Georgian soldiers. "Tell me why you're here, Matheson!" the president demanded.

"Please, just listen to what we have to say," he begged, "It's very important! I know you have every right to hate me, but you have to believe me. I'm so sorry for what I did to you and-" He was interrupted by a slap across the face. He stared back at Foster in shock. Normally she was so composed, he could barely comprehend what had just happened.

"You murdered my husband. My son. My daughter. My children were so young and you just…" Her voice shook in an effort to hold back her tears. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand."

Miles took a deep breath. "Believe me, I wouldn't have risked showing my face in Atlanta if it weren't important. We came here for a reason, to help you fight Monroe. We can beat him."

"I seriously doubt that."

"But it's true!" Someone shouted from the other side of the room. They turned and saw Rachel had managed to convince the soldiers to let her go, and was now quickly approaching them. "We can help you defeat the militia before they take over, we have an advantage."

"And what exactly is that?" Foster asked. Rachel and Miles shared a quick glance, and she reached in to her pocket as best as she could with her hands being bound. When she pulled them back up, she was holding two pendants.

"These," she said, and pressed the button to activate them. Immediately the lights came on in the office, a fan began to turn, Miles could even here music playing from somewhere. He stole a glance over at Charlie, who was staring at everything in wonder. Sometimes it was hard for him to remember how completely unfamiliar she was with the concept of electricity, and how odd it must be for her to be seeing things that were basically fairy tales to her come to life.

Foster looked around at all the electronic devices which were functioning perfectly for the first time in fifteen years. Her eyebrows shot up, but she showed no other sign of emotion. Still, Miles knew that was enough to mean she was impressed, and she wanted those pendants for herself. But she was a very cautious person. She certainly wasn't going to just give them her complete trust because they had a power source.

Foster walked over and took the pendants from Rachel, and the power switched off. She studied them intently for a few moments, then looked back up. "I'll need some time to consider your offer," she said, then nodded to the soldiers. "Take them to a holding cell."

The soldiers grabbed them by their arms and started to drag them towards the door. Charlie began to panic. She didn't want to go to a prison, they didn't have time for this! "Wait!" she shouted, and struggled against the guard until she had broken free of his grip. "Please, we don't have time for all of this! The militia is probably on its way to Atlanta right now, we have to act quickly."

"I agree, the militia is a threat," Foster said. By this point all the soldiers had stopped, and everyone had their eyes on Charlie and the president. "But I just can't afford to make any mistakes right now. We're in a bad enough situation as it is, I don't need spies infiltrating our forces to make things worse."

"We're not spies!" Charlie insisted. "Believe me, I want General Monroe to die, so I'm definitely not working with him."

"You can say that all you want, but you've still given me no reason to trust any of you."

Charlie sighed and looked down, trying to think of something to say. Surely, there must be something they could do that would win the president's trust, but what? How could she possible convince this woman that she only had good intentions? She placed a hand over her stomach, and felt her baby give a little kick. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. She had to tell Foster the truth.

"It was General Monroe who got me pregnant," she said in a small voice, but it was just loud enough for everyone to hear. Foster narrowed her eyes, and Charlie continued. "He kidnapped me months ago. He… raped me. He was trying to have an heir, someone who could become the next general of the republic after his eventual death." Charlie paused, and looked around at everyone's expressions. She locked eyes with Miles, and then continued to speak.

"Miles helped me escape, and since then Monroe has been trying to find me. He will stop at nothing to get me back, to get the baby back. That's why we came to Georgia in the first place. I needed to get away from him, to a place he could never go, so I could keep my baby safe." She stopped and took a deep breath. "But I guess I was wrong, because now he's so close and I'm afraid that he invaded Georgia just so he could find me. I am so, so sorry for that."

A small tear slipped down Charlie's cheek. "It's because of Monroe that my father and brother are dead, too. He gave the order that killed both of them, and I…. I hate him for it. I was with both of them when they died, and as I knelt over their bodies I promised myself that I would kill Sebastian Monroe for all that he has done to me and my family."

Foster seemed to be considering everything that she was saying, so Charlie took a step forward. She looked the president right in the eye and continued, "I don't want to let anyone else get hurt because of that man, and that is exactly why you have to believe us. Because if you don't let us help you, he will take over Georgia and then no one will be able to stop him."

For a moment, no one spoke. Charlie held her breath for what seemed like ages while Foster gathered her thoughts. After an agonizing few minutes, she finally spoke up. "All right," she said, "I believe you." Charlie smiled, and the tension in the room immediately seemed to dissipate. Foster looked back at the others and asked, "So, how do you plan on using these pendants to our advantage?"

"I can build some amplifiers," Rachel explained. "They should increase the range of the pendants to half a mile."

"So we can use them to power more advanced weapons," Foster concluded. Rachel nodded her head.

"Exactly. I'll need several materials to build the amplifiers, but I'm sure you can find them without too much difficulty. And… it could take some time."

"How long?"

"Without seeing the materials I have to work with it's impossible to tell. It could be two weeks, it could be two months. I just can't be sure at the moment."

Foster shook her head. "Things aren't going well on the front lines. We might be able to hold off the militia for a few weeks, but I'm not positive we could last that long. I'm afraid you may have come too late to help."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Miles said. "I know General Monroe, and I know how he thinks. If you let me lead your armies, I know I can turn the tide. I can at least buy us enough time for Rachel to finish working on the amplifiers."

President Foster narrowed her eyes at Miles' suggestion. He knew she would probably say no, considering all their history. Still, he held out hope that she would relent. Surely she had to know that what he was saying was true. "All right," she finally said, and looked over everyone in the room. "When do you want to get started?"


	26. Chapter 26

A/N Um... hi. Remember me? The girl who wrote the fic about Bass and Charlie? Yeah. I know it's been... a while since my last update. *receives evil glares* ... okay, it's been forever. I'm so sorry. 11th grade is waaaaay more work than 10th, and I didn't know it would be like this. I never meant to abandon this fic, and I know this is a short chapter but it's all I had time to write... I promise I'll try to get more chapters up as soon as I can. Again, really sorry. Please don't hate me.

Miles repeatedly pulled the trigger on his gun, emptying an entire clip of bullets in to the line of soldiers ahead of him. One by one, they fell to the ground as the tiny pieces of metal made contact with their bodies. If he thought about what he was doing, Miles would have felt guilty. These used to be his men after all. A few short years ago they were only boys, under his training, and now he was slaughtering them by the dozens. If he took the time to really look at them, to remember each and every face, every shot would make him sick. Only he didn't think about it, for that very reason. All he did was shoot.

Nora and Jason came up on either side of him and began firing as well. The battle was not going well for Georgia. Monroe's forces were storming them from every direction, and they just kept coming no matter how many men they killed. Meanwhile the soldiers under Miles' command were dropping like flies, and there were no reinforcements waiting to take their place.

"So what's the plan?" Nora shouted over the sound of the battle. When he didn't answer she shot him a look. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Of course I do!" he answered, and glanced behind them. They were in the middle of a large street, almost completely exposed except for the crude barriers they had constructed. There was better cover in the abandoned buildings a few yards away, if only they could get to them without being mowed down by Monroe's forces. Miles sighed. Even if they ran, they would still be open to enemy fire for a good ten seconds. A lot of people can die in ten seconds.

Miles turned back to the battle and reloaded his gun. He fired his gun on instinct, his mind completely focused on strategy. He searched his mind, trying to recall the map of the city he memorized earlier. If his memory was correct, there were a number or smaller streets branching off of the main one, and the closes was just to their left. If only there was some way to draw the militia in to it….

"Jason," he said, and the boy whipped his head around. "There's something I need you to do." He leaned over and whispered his idea in to Jason's ear. With one nod of the head, the boy turned and hurried away, keeping his head low to avoid the bullets flying by.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Nora said, shaking her head.

"Don't worry," Miles answered. "I always find a way, just trust me."

"I do trust you. More than anyone else in the world."

Miles ducked down and placed another clip inside his gun. Nora did the same. He glanced at the side street, but couldn't see Jason anymore. Surely enough time had passed for him to do what Miles had told him to. Before the blackout they could have communicated by radio to know for sure, but now they had to operate on blind faith.

"All right, let's move!" he shouted out, then jumped up from his cover and fired a stream of bullets in to the enemy lines. Nora and the rest of the soldiers followed his lead, and several of the militia ducked behind their own barriers. Miles ran over to the side street and took cover behind an old building. A few of the Georgian soldiers fell to the ground, but most of them made it to safety.

The militia immediately noticed their retreat and started to advance their way. Miles and Nora laid down cover fire as the rest of the soldiers ran to the end of the street, before turning and following them. They ran as quickly as their feet could take them, knowing that the enemy troops were doing the same. When they reached the dead end, Miles ordered his soldiers to take cover in the buildings on each side, just as the alleyway exploded with bullets.

Blindly, he fired his weapon as he ran for cover, praying he wouldn't get hit on the way. He jumped through a doorway and was about to close it behind him when he heard a familiar scream. Nora's scream. Miles turned and saw her lying on the ground, and his heart nearly stopped. "Nora!" he called out, and started to run towards her, but the bullets flying past his head forced him back. Furious now, he attacked the militia soldier's full force. What was taking Jason so long?

Suddenly, bullets fired from the roofs of the buildings, and the enemy started dropping in waves. Miles glanced up and saw several Georgian snipers shooting down at the militia from all sides. Before long, all the enemy troops were lying dead on the ground, and the fighting was over.

Miles didn't take the time to congratulate the men. As soon as it was safe he rushed out from behind cover and knelt beside Nora's body. Desperately, he felt for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. She was still alive. Miles rolled her over and saw the red stains on the ground, his hands covered in blood. Quickly, he looked to see where the injury was and found three wounds in her side, all leaking blood.

He sighed and dropped his head. Nora couldn't die. Not now, not after all they'd been through. He wouldn't let it happen. Carefully, he picked up her limp body and started to hurry towards the field hospital. As he ran, he thought he heard Nora moan. "Shh," he whispered, "Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right, you're going to be fine." She didn't answer, but Miles took a deep breath. She was going to be okay. She just had to be okay.


End file.
